Pretty much a Phoenix
by Hotinthemilkyway
Summary: 7 years after season 3, the sudden murder of 23 year old Henry Hart sends his friends into despair. Then they find a way to bring him back. Slowbuild fic with eventual Hensper (Henry/Jasper) romance. [This fic does contain some serious topics e.g. mourning death, depression, alcohol, cursing, some gory descriptions, and sexual references. Please be careful!]
1. The Death of a Hero

**This first chapter is a bit different to the other chapters in the story as this is just quickly setting some plot stuff up but hey I hope you enjoy reading it. I struggled a lot when writing this tbh so it's not amazing. Please leave constructive criticism, this is only my second fanfic and my first multichapter fanfic so I would really appreciate it!**

Kid Danger sprinted through the street, the city lights surrounding him in a blur as he ran. Captain Man sprinted a few meters in front of him, his neck constantly turning as he searched for their target. Very little was known about the villain who they had been called to handle. According to man who frantically called the pair, they were searching for an "Angel" who had decapitated a local sex worker on her way home. Neither of the duo knew what the caller had meant by an "Angel" so they desperately searched everywhere, trying to find someone that even slightly matched the callers description. Neither had had any luck. They had been searching for over half an hour and had only found confused groups of people enjoying a night out and empty shops closed for the evening. Part of Kid Danger wanted to give up and go home; His legs ached and he was so tired that he was barely even concious. Despite this he kept pushing on, some strange sense of duty that had formed through his years as a sidekick preventing him from stopping.

"Kid, look there" Captain Man whispered, snapping Kid Danger out of his thoughts.

At some point the duo must have entered Swellview park, a park in the centre of the city that served as a short cut for many citizens of Swellview. Standing in a patch of grass was a small figure who's features were hidden by a hood and a simplistic mask. One hand was coated in blood and the other held a bloodstained sword. What really stood out, though, was a pair of pure white wings.

"Holy shit I can see why he called them an angel." Kid Danger muttered in awe.

Each wing had to be at least 3 metres long. Their incredible wingspan captivated the blonde and their pure white feathers clashed beautifully with the blood on the figure's hands. They moved strangely in an almost robotic fashion, each movement seeming incredibly unnatural with sudden jitters and erratic speeds. All of a sudden, Kid danger lept at the figure, attempting to restrain them. Just has his fingertips grazed their arms, however, they jolted and sprinted out of sight. The pair chased after them as fast as they could, pushing their bodies to their absolute limits in the process, but it was too late. They'd lost them.

"Aah Goddamnit" Captain Man whined, lightly kicking a stone nearby in frustration. He idly watched the stone roll, not paying much attention until it's journey ended in a bush. A red substance pooled from under the leaves, practically invisible in the evening darkness. It taunted Captain Man to come closer.

"Whats up?" Kid Danger questioned, staring at his friend with confusion.

"Hang on..." Captain Man crouched down and turned his head to peek through the leaves of the bush. Suddenly, he jolted back, alarmed. "Shit, Kid, you might want to have a look at this".

Kid Danger mimicked the older man's actions and peaked inside of the bush only to find the decapitated head of a woman. Her mouth was mutilated to the point that it barely resembled a human body part anymore, the corners of her mouth split and her tongue sliced into small chunks of meat. A sky blue colour bled from the areas where her flesh had been cut, mixing with the blood to create a morbid unnatural mess. Blonde curls fells from her head, sticky and bloodstained, while the word SINNER was written next to the head in a dark substance, presumably blood.

"...Oh God." He covered his mouth with his shakey hand, attempting to hide how distraught he was. "Sinner? Is she the sex woker...?"

"I guess so." Captain Man sighed and turned his head to look at his sidekick. Concern immedietly flooded over him as he noticed how affected Kid Danger was by the sight in front of them. "We'd better get going, they might have done this to someone else. You don't look so good, you can sit this one out if you want to, Kid." He placed his hand on his sidekick's shoulder in a reassuring manner. It was a strange sensation; Kid Danger was the same height as him now.

"I'll be fine, seriously." Confidence filled his speech as he masked his earlier discomfort and with that they began to run again, scanning the area with a sense of dread.

After a while of running they spotted them again, turned around facing a brick wall blankly with their wings spread out in awkward angles. Instead of coming out of their back the wings protuded from a large box like device strapped to Angel's back. They were faux. Angel suddenly seemed to make a lot more sense, They weren't a strange diety but were instead an intelligent human with a sadistic streak.

For a minute the pair just stood there and silently discussed their next move, and then they pounced. Captain Man lept at Angel, threw their sword at his sidekick and pulled then into a tight grasp while Kid Danger caught the sword, revealed his blaster and aimed it at the winged figure, daring them to move.

"Have fun in hell, 'Angel'" Captain Man sneered while he tightened his grip on the villain.

"Pfft yeah, you do that." A wave of achievement and confidence emitted from Kid Danger as he waved the villain's sword around with glee. Once again they had done it- They had saved the day. Together they had defeated the strange being that was Angel no matter how big their wings were or how pointy their sword was.

Despite this, he found himself desperately wanting to know who this person was in front of him. Slowly, he reached for their mask as curiosity and confidence overtook him. Just before his fingertips gazed the smooth surface, however, Angel fluttered their wings violently, causing Captain Man to jump back in shock. In a split second Angel ripped their sword out of Kid Danger's hands, pulled him into a tight hold and moved her sword to his neck as their wings raised around them defensively.

"Move and I will kill him. Touch me and I will kill him. Call for help and I will kill him." A soft voice called out from under the mask. "If you drop you weapons, leave and don't pursue me then I will not hurt him. The blade of this sword Is covered in small ridges and each ridge is filled with a deadly poison. The slightest graze with this sword will kill. Let me go and he will survive."

Kid Danger squirmed away from Angel though a slight move of the blade quickly left him frozen in fear. Desperately, he shot a worried glance to his friend, begging him to do something, though Captain Man only gave a reassuring look back. He had a plan.

"Okay, okay. Swear you'll let Kid Danger go?" He let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Yes." The voice replied, completely toneless and emotionless. It gave absolutely no clues about the owner of the voice, the gender and age impossible to decipher from it.

Captain Man slowly reached for his weapons, placed them on the ground in front of Angel and took two steps back with his arms up in a sign of peace. Angel began to loosen their grip on their hostage while Captain Man placed his hand on the back of his neck. There he discreetly prepared his trump card- His watch's ability to knock people unconcious. Swiftly, he shot a beam at Angel who, without any hesitation, blocked using their wings to shield themselves from the blast.

"Oh my god just let him go!" Ray shouted, charging towards Angel in a fit of anger. A slash of a blade and an ear piecing scream filled his ears as he realised his mistake.

"FUCK!" Henry yelled, holding onto his collar bone with trembling hands. It was a light cut, there was barely even any blood, but if the poison was as bad as Angel said it was then the wound was deadly. Tears welled in his eyes as he hunched over himself, hyperventilating.

Ray rushed towards him and pulled him into a tight hug, reaching for his phone while trying to comfort the other man. Angel was no where to be seen.

"Fuck, Henry, you're going to be okay I promise shit shit okay ambulance right." He mumbled frantically under his breath, making little sense as he attempted to press the dial the correct numbers. His hands refused, their movements too erratic to control.

"I don't want to die, Ray, oh my god" Henry sobbed into Ray's shoulder. A slight blue tinge started to spread around the sliced flesh and his vision began to blur from the chemicals entering his bloodstream.

"Got it, thank fuck." A triumphant yell came from Ray's mouth as he finally managed to dial the number after multiple attempts. He grabbed Henry's hand and squeezed it strongly, clinging onto it as if it would save his life. "It's Captain Man. Kid Danger just got cut with a poison coated blade and I swear to God if no one's here in the next 3 minutes you'll regret it." He spoke, his tone becoming increasingly more desperate with each word.

As he ended the call blue fluid burst out of Henry's mouth.

"Hen?" He called, shaking his friend's shoulders in an attempt to get him to respond.

"Hen!?" He called again, this time more desperately. Henry was no longer squeezing Ray's hand back.

"Please, Henry, oh my god don't die." Ray Manchester sobbed, tears pouring out of his eyes as he checked his sidekick's pulse.

There was nothing.

10 minutes later the paramedics arrived to find Captain Man clinging to Kid Danger, sobbing violently. Kid Danger was dead.

 _Henry Hart was dead._


	2. The mourning after

**Just to make it clear: Charlotte, Jasper and Henry are all 23 years old in this fic while Ray is 43 and Schwoz is 42 and its set 7 years in the future of the canon season 3. This chapter is a lot of waffle and its pretty uneventful so sorry! I may be a little slow updating the next chapter because I have a lot of exams next week but it should be pretty fast after that. Enjoy!**

Jasper perched on the edge of his bed, staring at the ceiling blankly. The neon light of his alarm clock read 3am but he found himself completely unable to sleep. He ran his fingers through his hair gently, the straight strands brushing against his fingertips. 5 months and 9 days had passed since the incident and he found himself unable to do the simplist things such as curling his hair. Jasper simply didn't have the energy or motivation to do it anymore. He turned his head to face the mirror in his room and stared at it for a while, trying to make out his reflection in the darkness. He seemed older now; Prehaps from the violet bags that hung from his eyes from his insomnia or maybe because of how much hollower his cheeks had become from his lack of an appetite. Either way, looking at himself felt strange, wrong almost. Just over 5 months and 9 days ago he had looked so happy, so pure, and now he was this. He let his hands fall to his lap, too tired to keep them up any longer, as he silently cursed his insomnia for keeping him up when he was this exhausted.

Faint voices could be heared in the distance, the hum of feminine giggles and a boastful Ray Manchester breaking the silence of the room. After Henry's passing Charlotte decided it would be a good idea for her and Jasper to move out of their apartments and into the Man cave so everyone could be near eachother for support. With a little bit of expansion to the man cave thanks to Schwoz the idea became a reality and while most of the time Jasper was greatful to not be alone, at night he was trapped in his room thanks to his boss. Every night since Henry's death Ray seemed to have a different flock of girls over that he'd "entertain" as Captain Man, leaving the other residents of the Man cave stuck in their rooms to hide their identities and forcing them to deal with questionable noises when they'd all much rather be sleeping. It seemed to be the only thing Ray did as Captain Man anymore, the man had stopped fighting crime for months. According to him it was because "The police had become too reliant on him and he was helping them improve and become more responsible." Though it was pretty clear that wasn't the case. Whenever they suggested this he immedietly flipped out, however, so they didn't mention it and hoped that the man would eventually resume fighting again.

A sudden noise stopped Jasper's train of thought, jolting him upright in shock, though he immedietly calmed down as soon as his brain realised what it was. Sighing slightly, he slowly rose from his bed and moved towards a photo album which lay on his chest of drawers. Carefully, he picked it up, stroking the plastic feeling cover. It was almost completely covered in stickers, many of which were peeling off at the corners with age. He turned the pages to reveal photograph and photograph of him and Henry- Him and Henry at summer camp, him and Henry on their first day of middle school, him and Henry in a group prom photo, him and Henry at their graduation... Memories came flooding back, bringing with them a soft warmth that filled Jasper's chest as he thought of the man he missed so much. For a moment he felt almost euphoric as joy rose up in him. Then it crashed. Despair took over his chest as it sunk in he would never see Henry again and tears began to softly fall from his eyes. He made his way back over to his bed and collapsed, too weak to stand anymore. There he lay, clutching onto the photo album tightly as his sniffles lulled him to sleep.

xxx

A sudden yell from inside the Man cave jolted Jasper awake.

"Ray, get here!" Charlotte's voice echoed throughout the cave, forcing Jasper awake and leaving him dazed and confused.

Curious, he decided to investigate so, not bothering to change out of old pyjamas he's had since he was 15, he left the room and entered the main room of the man cave. Charlotte was sat on the sofa, a laptop on her lap, one hand holding a notepad while the other pulled on a random coil of hair. She smiled at him before turning her attention to Ray who just climbed through the gear door and was making his way down the steps towards her. Ray was in a terrible state, only wearing underwear and a food stained Tshirt that he had on backwards.

"What do you want?" He mumbled, a disinterested look lay on his face as he absent-mindedley rubbed small red and purple marks dotted along his neck with his hand.

"Okay, you see this girl here? She dissapeared from the Catholic boarding school around a fortnight before the Hen thing happened." Charlotte explained something to Ray though he did not care the slightest, instead he was examining more bruises along his shoulder. At first, Charlotte didn't realise this, she was far too busy explaining something, though as soon as she picked up on it she was furious.

"Ray!" She called as she stood up and began to wave her hand in his face to get his attention. "I just found some important information on Angel that might help us find them. Do you not even care?"

"Charlotte, he's dead. There's no point trying to find Angel it doesn't matter anymore." And with that he left, Ignoring Charlotte's angry calls after him.

"Damn..." Jasper mumbled, walking over to Charlotte as he kept staring at the space Ray had just taken up.

"He is such a mess." Shaking her head, she let out a deep sigh. "Distracting himself with sex and pretending he's fine doesn't make him fine. He's such an idiot."

Jasper hummed in agreement. "He's been so mean recently too."

"Yeah he has. That boy better get his shit together soon. I want to sign him up for counselling but it would be pretty difficult to get him to go." Frustrated, she let out a sigh and sank into the sofa. For a minute for two they sat in a comfortable silence, both reflecting on the actions of their friend. Then Jasper broke it, letting out a gentle smile as he spoke.

"What were you telling Ray?" Unlike Ray he was genuinely interested. For Charlotte to have been that excited about something it must have been big.

"I found another suspect for who Angel is and believe me, this girl seems guilty."

"Why do you think that?" Gently, Jasper encouraged her.

"Well, you know the fancy boarding school downtown? The one for super rich extreme catholics?"

"Swellview Holy Angels educational facility?" He questioned.

"Yeah that one." She nodded gently. "Anyway, so this girl went missing from there a fortnight before Ray and Henry met Angel and during that fortnight a lot of crimes happened that are linked together. Four sex workers were found dead, Miss Swellview and a couple of other local celebrities were stolen from and a mosque was covered in graffiti."

"Do you think she did it, then?"

"Im pretty certain. It all links to extreme religious views and all that jazz. The crimes stopped right after the Henry incident and the girl is still missing so it seems likely."

Charlotte's paused for a second before continuing, her tone becoming depressed. "That's the problem, though. The girl is still missing and there's just no more information on here. Even if she is Angel I'm never going to be able to find enough information to track her down."

"I'm sure you'll find out who Angel is, Charlotte. I mean, you've already found out this much- That's impressive!" Jasper's words seemed to lift Charlotte's spirits slightly as the corners of her mouth turned upwards slightly.

'Thanks, Jasper." A vibration interrupted their conversation. For a moment neither knew what the noise was though Charlotte soon realised it was her phone. A puzzled look grew on her face as she checked it.

"What is it?" Jasper queried, interested in his friend's reaction.

"Schwoz wants me to meet him at the corner shop? Weird." Charlotte shrugged lightly and rose from the sofa, beginning to make her way towards the lift. "I guess I'd better go. Bye, Jasper." Letting out a half hearted wave, she entered the lift and then she was gone, leaving Jasper all by himself.

xxx

An hour passed and Jasper was alone.

Then another hour and then another, but Jasper was still alone.

This troubled Jasper. Honestly, he had never been amazing at handling isolation, his hatred for it being part of the reason he spent so much time at Henry's house growing up. Unlike his house where his only parent, his mother, was always away at work or didn't care enough to give him attention unless she was high, Henry's house was always lively and full of people and commotion. Although his ability to handle isolation had improved after living alone in a flat for a couple of years, he still struggled with being alone during the day time.

After an hour of pacing the cave, trying to find something to do, Jasper settled on zoning out and watching TV until someone came home. For a couple of hours this was all he did, only getting up to use the bathroom or to get food, though when it turned 10pm and no one had returned yet he began to worry. What if they had gotten hurt? What if Ray had done something stupid like moved to Mexico and changed his name to Francis? With they way he was acting right now it didn't seem unlikely. He find himself anxiously staring at the time, begging for a sign that the others were safe.

Then, at 11:34pm, Ray Manchester stumbled into the Man cave.

If he wasn't immune thanks to his indestructibality, Jasper would have thought Ray was on some serious drugs or at least very drunk, but he knew right away this was something else. The older man was swaying side by side, barely able to walk. A drowsy look was painted on his face and his knees appeared as if they were about to give in any second. Then he collapsed.

"Ray!" Jasper let out a yell as he lept towards the man, though the man had allready fallen. Quickly, he helped him up and guided Ray towards the sofa, allowing Ray to use his body for support. He crashed onto the sofa, Ray's body trembling slightly as he curled up into a ball. "Ray? What's wrong?" Jasper crouched down , making himself eye level with the man in an attempt to get him to talk. The attempt was pointless though, there was no response. "Please, Ray, come on." He asked once more, desperation creeping in his voice as he spoke. This went on for a while until, the pattern of Jasper begging and Ray ignoring repeating constantly until Ray finally broke the pattern.

"I don't know what to do, Jasper." Ray mumbled, tears welling up in his eyes as his shoulders continued to tremble. "It's all my fault its all my fault it's all my fault it's all my-" He began to hyperventilate, clutching at his sides desperately as he sobbed. Ray had finally snapped.

"It's not your fault. You tried your best to save him, Ray." Jasper attempted to be comforting to the man. Slowly, he reached out towards the man and pressed his palm against his shoulder, trying to steady his trembling slightly. "Henry wouldn't want you to say this."

"I've gone against everything Henry would have wanted so much that it doesn't even matter anymore, Jasper. Besides, it's true." The expression his face displayed changed rapidly, his eyes almost flickered as he spoke. Everything he said slurred together, his mind experiencing too many things at once to properly form words.

"If it wasn't for me he could be a normal living man right now or at least alive and my sidekick. I ruined his goddamn life, Jasper, and even now that he's dead I'm being a fucking dick. Look at me? I'm at fucking mess." For a moment he paused, catching his breath, then he continued.

"I just want to fucking die, I just want something to make this more manageable... But I can't. Thanks, Dad, for making me indestructible, it's working out great right now! I killed the person most important to me I have no goddamn right to live. I want to die I want to dieIwanttodieIwantto..." The words repeated as he trailed off, his anger melting into gentle sobs.

Jasper moved his hand off the man's shoulder and placed it in his palm instead. Ray clung onto Jasper's hand to the point where the circulation began to stop, though Jasper didn't have the heart to tell the man to lighten his grip.

"Let's go visit Henry's grave tommorow, okay?" Jasper murmured softly at Ray. A slight nod of the other man confirmed his plan and that was it. The two sat there in silence with nothing else to say to eachother until morning.


	3. One step forward Two steps back

**It's finally up! Sorry for the wait but I was really focused on my exams and I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter. Anyway it's up now and I hope you enjoy!**

Hours had passed but Jasper and Ray were still in the same position. Ray lay curled up on the sofa while Jasper sat on the floor, his back resting against the sofa seat and his hand interlocked with the older man's. At some point or another Ray had fallen asleep, the man's soft snores echoed throughout the Man Cave.

Once again, like almost every night for 5 months, Jasper was unable to sleep. For once, however, he didn't care, he was just glad to see the man next to him sleep so peacefully. At any point he could have slipped his hand away from Ray's and have done whatever he wanted, yet he found himself unable to do so. A strange protective urge was stopped him.

So once again he just waited, thoughts of Henry filling his mind to pass the time as he rested his head against the sofa seat.

Henry's laugh, Henry's voice, Henry's animated expressions. The way his hand would linger during the slightest touch, the way he would look at Jasper with those goddamn brown eyes in a way with so much understanding that it made his head spin. God he missed him so much. Cool tears trickled down his face, bringing him back to reality. "Don't cry." He scolded himself under his breath though his body refused to listen.

xxx

A little while later the sound of the lift door opening erupted through the room, quiet conversation followed the noise.

"It's got to be too late now though, isn't it? It won't work." Charlotte spoke with a hushed voice, a concerned tone flowed throughout her speech.

"Maybe. Maybe not. We do not until we try." A heavy accented voice followed, causing Jasper to look up in shock. For the first time in what felt like years Schwoz was actually inside the Man cave.

Charlotte noticed the movement and approached Jasper immediately. "Jasper it's 4 in the morning what are you doing here?". She spoke with a disapproving tone as she stared down at him. Then she noticed Ray. "Okay... What's going on here?" Charlotte pointed a finger towards Ray, her tone flickering between confusion and concern. "Is he alright?" An increasing amount of worry appeared on her face as she leant down to check on the sleeping man.

"He had a sort of break down and collapsed." Jasper paused and looked down at Ray. "I didn't want to leave him alone like this." Nodding slightly, Charlotte gave him an understanding look and reached down to lightly pat Ray's head.

"What, because of all the naughty-naughty fun times he's been having to pretend that Henry didn't die?" Schwoz moved his hips in a strange dance as he spoke, earning himself a glare strong enough to kill from the other two. He put his hands up in defence. "Sheesh I was just trying to lighten the mood."

"Well don't." Charlotte spoke with venom as her protective instincts shone through. "It's a lot more than that."

Schwoz mumbled something under his breath about no fun being allowed as he looked down at the floor in shame.

"Where have you been, anyway? You've barely even been in the cave recently." Jasper attempted to make eye contact with the man yet Schwoz refused.

"I don't know what you are talking about!" Schwoz shouted as he skidded out of the room, obviously avoiding the question.

Charlotte sighed and placed her hand on her hip. "I've been helping him with a new invention. That's why he's gone so much."

"Oh, what is it?"

Charlotte shuffled uncomfortably, her mouth opening and closing as she debated how to reply. After a minute of uncomfortable silence, she let out another sigh. "We don't even know what we're doing yet or if we're actually going to do it. There's not really much point worrying about it. If we go ahead with it I'll tell you, I promise."

"Schwoz has been working on this so much but he hasn't even decided what he's doing yet? Really?" Jasper found himself unable to fully believe her.

"That's why he's asked me to help, he really has no idea. Anyway its late, even if you can't sleep you need to at least try to rest."

"But-" Jasper was interrupted by Charlotte.

"The invention isn't important and Ray will be fine, I'll stay here with him. Now go on and sleep, you look terrible."

Jasper opened his mouth in protest but decided to give in. If Charlotte wasn't telling him something there must have been a good reason and she would definitely make sure Ray was alright. Besides, his back felt as if someone was repeatedly stabbing him. So he agreed and retreated to his bed, staring up at the ceiling as his exhausted body refused to shut down.

xxx

Jasper woke up slowly, his brain still groggy and demanding sleep though neon numbers announcing that it was 12 in the afternoon convinced him to persevere and get up anyway. He had managed to get just over an hours sleep last night which was an improvement and definitely better than nothing, though it was no where near enough sleep to power his exhausted body.

"Thanks insomnia" he whispered as he dragged himself up, forced himself to get ready and trudged towards the main room of the man cave.

The room was completely empty apart from Ray who was still curled up on the sofa, the only difference to last night being a blanket draped over him. It wasn't really suprising, Schwoz and Charlotte were most likely still in bed. It was late when they had gotten home, after all.

Jasper approached Ray and after taking a moment to decide his actions, he shoved the man lightly. Ray let out a soft groan at the touch and slowly sat up, burying his face in is palms in his discomfort.

"What is it, Jasper?" Ray's voice clearly announced his mood: Tired, grumpy and sad.

"Do you still want to go see Henry's grave?"

Ray thought for a minute as he came to a decision while his eyes glanced down at the floor solemnly. "Alright. Give me a minute." Gradually, he rose his seat disappeared through the secret door. An hour later the sliding gear revealed his presence.

Unlike yesterday, actually unlike almost every day since Henry's death, Ray seemed somewhat put together. None of his clothes had mysterious stains and his hair looked as if he had at least attempted to brush it. He was still far from perfect, his violet eye bags and stubble coated face still clearly showed how little he cared anymore. A scarf was draped along his shoulders, hiding the bruises along his neck and collarbone.

"That's a nice scarf." Jasper attempted to make conversation with the man.

"I thought I'd switch it up a bit, you know? Try something new." He paused and then his voice softened. "It's just felt wrong going to see Henry with hickeys all over my neck."

"Ah." Jasper had absolutely no idea what to say in response. "It's cool. Snazzy."

"I guess."

The conversation ended and an awkward silence replaced it, the atmosphere in the room growing more and more suffocating until neither could stand it anymore. Jasper made eye contact with Ray, silently asking him if he was ready to leave and with a nod of Ray's head, they entered the lift and left the man cave.

xxx

The walk to the cemetery was awkward, in fact painfully so. Neither said a word to each other, the already long walk dragged unbearably thanks to the silence.

Cutting through Swellview park would have made reaching their destination much faster, though without saying a word to each other they both decided to go the longer way, avoiding the park entirely. Neither wanted to go in there; Neither wanted to face the place where Henry had been murdered. After what felt like hours, the pair finally arrived at the graveyard, both men drained from the walk.

"Stupid Swellview builders, building the cementary so far away." Ray cursed under his breath, clearly annoyed by the long walk.

"Cementary?" Jasper gave Ray a confused glance, picking up on the older man's strange pronunciation. "Do you mean cemetery?"

"Both pronunciations are acceptable!" A defensive tone filled Ray's voice as he waved his hands around slightly, emphasising his point. The interaction took the tense pressure off of the atmosphere and Ray's shoulders visibly relaxed in response.

"I really don't think they are."

"Oh sorry, Jasper, I didn't realise that you were the almighty all knowing master of the English language." A faint smirk appeared on Ray's lips.

The pair continued to exchange meaningless conversation as they headed towards Henry's grave. It wasn't difficult for them to find, they knew its location like the back of their hands thanks to visiting it so much.

It was a grandee grave; The marble gravestone protruded out of the ground proudly. Complicated patterns from the trees above were cast over the hundreds of flowers which surrounded the grave, not a single flower was even slightly wilted. The reason for the grandeur was simple:

This was Kid Danger's grave.

'Henry Hart' never actually had his own grave in his own name as, from the viewpoint of Swellview, Henry Hart was living in Grenville, South Carolina with a woman he met online.

When Ray told Henry's parents about Henry's death they decided to hide from the world that Henry was Kid Danger for privacy's sake. Instead, to explain Henry's sudden disappearance, they claimed that Henry had suddenly moved away to be with a women he had fallen madly in love with. Thanks to the stupidity of Swellview everyone believed this and no one found it suspicious that Henry Hart and Kid Danger had disappeared at the exact same time.

"It feels kind of surreal being here, huh?" Jasper sighed and reached forward to gently touch the gravestone.

Ray hummed in agreement and sat on a shady patch of grass against a nearby tree. Jasper ran his hand along the grave stone one last time before removing his hand and moving to sit next to Ray. They sat in silence as they reflected on Henry, neither of them mentioning the tears that flooded from their eyes while still offering their presence as comfort.

It was strange to think that yesterday Ray was an absolute mess who denied his sadness and took it out on other people while today he admitted it and was actually comforting Jasper and himself. He wasn't perfect, but better. Everything felt just a little bit better.

xxx

After a couple of hours sitting in that spot the pair finally returned to the man cave.

"Hey guys." Charlotte called out at them as their presence was revealed by the sliding lift door. She and Schwoz were slouched on the sofa, pizza boxes surrounded them. Schwoz was hunched over a notepad, not really paying attention to what he was writing down, while Charlotte had her eyes locked on the TV screen.

"Ooooh he did not just do that." She shouted, her speech becoming increasingly intense with every dog bark from the speakers. "Make his guilty ass pay, Judge!"

"Dog Judge?" Ray tilted his head slightly in confusion. "I thought they stopped making that?"

"Yeah wasn't it cancelled?" Jasper chirped in while taking a slice of pizza.

Schwoz immediately lunged forward and cast Jasper a horrified look. "Not cancelled, they chose to end it!"

"Okay okay, I'm sorry" Jasper put his hands up in mock defeat and plopped onto the sofa next to Charlotte.

"Hey, I'm gonna go take a nap." Ray called out to the others as he made his way out of his room, unwrapping his scarf as he walked.

"Alright, sleep well." Charlotte shouted before turning back to Jasper. "It's the 10th anniversary of the series starting so there's a marathon on and we decided to watch."

"Ah okay." The trio then sat there, Schwoz scribbling on his notepad while Jasper and Charlotte laughed at the show in front of them and ate pizza. It had been so long since he'd felt this good. These people were his family at this point and goddamn it was great. He was at home.

A notification blared through the cave after about 6 more episodes of Dog Judge, causing Jasper to jump.

"What?" Charlotte mumbled under her breath as she paused the TV and reached for her phone. Suddenly, she froze. "Shit."

"What is it?" Jasper attempted to communicate with her but there was no reply.

After a few seconds frozen, she sprung upwards and began to shout frantically, sending Jasper and Schwoz back in surprise.

"Ray! Ray come quick!" It seemed impossible that a noise that loud could be coming from someone so small. Her volume increased as she continued. Eventually Ray stumbled into the room, a look of tiredness and confusion painted all over his face. Ray opened his mouth to speak but was immediately interrupted by Charlotte.

"Ray, Angel is in the goddamn sports shop in St Pauls street with three goddamn hostages and they're demanding to meet you. You better get your ass over there right now or I swear to god." Erratic expressions flickered on her face. Everything about how she was acting was painfully out of character, the panicky anger had never been displayed before by her. Jasper now began to understand how Charlotte was coping with Henry's death - By hating Angel with every fibre of her being.

Almost immediately Ray understood, his hand reaching into his pocket for his gum without a second thought while anger and fear coated his face. Without hesitation, he blew a bubble, became Captain Man, and headed towards the tube. Charlotte's heavy breathing was the only sound in the room when he left.

"...Charlotte? Are you alright?" Jasper approached her cautiously and gently guided her back towards the sofa. She took a moment to reply before nodding weakly. A trembling hand fell from her head as she let go of a strand of hair she had been pulling unconsciously.

"I'm sorry." Her voice quivered as she spoke in between deep breaths. "I really lost it for a moment didn't I, huh?" Her small frame collapsed on itself as the words left her mouth, causing Jasper and Schwoz to step forwards slightly in concern. "Holy shit."

"Are you really sure that you are okay?" Schwoz placed his hand on Charlotte's shoulder In an attempt to comfort her though instead she tensed up.

"Do you need food or water or anything?" Jasper sent a glance to Schwoz, silently asking him for advice, to which the foreign man only lightly shrugged in response.

"Jasper I'm fine, I'm sure." Charlotte un-paused the TV and Dog Judge filled the silence of the room again. However, this time no one was watching it. Everyone was waiting for Ray.

An hour later Ray stumbled into the room. One hand hugged his body, trying to stop his violent shaking, while the other clung onto a sword covered in tiny grooves. Blood dripped from the sword and left a trail of death behind him. They said nothing - They could already tell what happened. Faintly in the background, Dog Judge was interrupted by an emergency news broadcast.

"Breaking News: Captain Man was just caught repeatedly stabbing the mysterious villain Angel, The same villain who murdered his sidekick Kid Danger. Angel has been confirmed dead."

 **Oo diggity Ray killed Angel. I've been considering making a little side oneshot or comic of him actually killing them so hey that might be a thing soon. Next chapter will be the start of Henry's resurrection so keep an eye out for it! Thank you for reading!**


	4. Anxiety and Joy

**I'm really not happy with this chapter but I have no idea how to actually make it semi-decent so here you go anyway.**

Jasper, Charlotte and Schwoz stood around the man cave frozen like statues. None of them knew what to do.

"I guess this means that we do not have to worry about Angel anymore." Schwoz was the first person to break the silence. His voice was calm and steady yet his expression told a different story.

Charlotte flicked through TV channels, searching the news for more information. Every channel said the exact same thing: Captain Man had killed Angel.

"I mean, they can't hurt us or anyone else anymore.." Charlotte's mumble trailed into nothing as she nervously dug her teeth into the skin surrounding her fingernails and pulled, causing a small pool of blood to appear in the raw skin. Her fingernails had become stumps in the minutes since Ray's return. Concern, fear, dread and relief thickened the air, suffocating the trio inside.

"Ray still killed someone." Jasper's words hit Charlotte like a blade.

"Oh my God Ray, what have you done?" Burying her face into her hands, she fell onto the sofa and grimaced.

"Should we go and talk to him?" Schwoz's eyes trailed to the gear door before locking with Jasper's.

"I don't know. He might want to be alone right now." He ran his hands through his hair only for it to become caught in tiny knots that had taken residence in the strands.

Charlotte's eyes suddenly lit up as an idea hit her and she pulled her phone out of her pocket. The expression her face held became increasingly darker the longer she stared at the screen. "It's trending. The reactions are pretty mixed but oh god the negative ones are BAD."

"Why didn't he just arrest Angel like he normally would have?" Jasper knew the answer but he spoke anyway while his hands anxiously pulled apart the knots that sat in his hair.

"He just lost control. I would have done the same thing if I were him." All of a sudden, Charlotte let out a deep sigh and stormed upwards. "I can't just sit here and leave him like this. I'm gonna go check on him."

Schwoz stared at her as if she was insane.

"Are you really sure? Ray is scary when he is in a bad mood."

"I'll come too." Jasper announced though he was quickly shot down by Charlotte.

"It might be overwhelming for him right now if we're both there. Just wait here, I won't be long." With that she left, feigning bravery as she passed through the sliding gear door.

"He is a dummy." The balding man announced as soon as the two were left alone.

"I hope he's okay..." Jasper muttered under his breath.

"Ah he will be fine." Schwoz waved his hand as he spoke, his confidant voice still contradicting the anxious mess his face painted. Even if he wouldn't show it Schwoz was worried. The pair sat in silence until Charlotte returned, neither really waning to make small talk in a time like.

A few minutes later Charlotte entered from behind the gear. Jasper and Schwoz's heads turned to face her immediately, both men eager to find out how Ray was.

"Alright, I convinced him to go and shower. He's about to now. That should give him something to do for a bit." She announced as she entered, wearing a solemn look on her face as she spoke.

"How is he?" Jasper rushed towards Charlotte, not bothering to even slightly mask his concern.

"Bad. He's really shaken up."

Jasper nodded gently in understanding before his eyes lit up. An idea had formed in his head. "Ray has headphones that he uses to meditate when he gets stressed, right? The wireless ones? We should find them, they might help calm him down a little."

The trio searched, turning up every part of the Man cave in the process. As they were in the process of rummaging through a hidden cupboard their search was interrupted, however. A sudden bang resounded throughout the room, echoing slightly in the space.

Without saying a word to each other they charged towards the bathroom to find Ray collapsed on the shower floor.

"Wait Charlotte he's nak-" Jasper's words were cut short by Charlotte's dry tone.

"Boy, I really don't care right now. Just help me get him up."

She pushed past Jasper, grasped onto Ray's arm and attempted to pull him up though her body was far too weak to lift him by herself. For a moment Jasper just stared, his brain not fully registering the situation, then he clung onto the man's other arm and together the pair half-dragged half-carried him towards his room and heaved him up onto his bed. Ray just lay there, trembling and hugging his body desperately.

"Alright there you go." Jasper muttered under his breath in a comforting manner while he pulled the covers over the man.

Slowly he calmed down, his erratic breathing turning into slow deep breaths while he stared blankly at the ceiling above him with glossy eyes.

"Are you okay, Ray?" Schwoz perched himself on the end of Ray's bed and poked the man lightly yet Ray did nothing.

Charlotte and Jasper shared a concerned glance at the lack of response.

"What should we do?" Jasper looked over his shoulder at the man as he spoke.

"I guess we just have to leave him." She dug her teeth lightly into her bottom lip for a moment before continuing. "He probably just needs some time to think. Any sane person would be like this after going through that."

"I hope so. I could stay here and keep an eye on him, I probably won't sleep much anyway." Jasper found himself surprised at the lengths he would go to protect Ray. Even now that he no longer worshiped Ray like he used to he still went out of his way to make the man happy. Ray was vulnerable and it scared Jasper.

"Go and try to sleep, you haven't slept properly in ages. Schwoz and I will take turns to check on him, won't we Schwoz?"

"Aah but I'm tiirreedd" Schwoz groaned. However, a murderous glare sent his way by Charlotte caused him to nervously nod his head in agreement.

Reluctantly, Jasper accepted the plan and after lightly patting his boss on the shoulder, he headed to bed. That night he didn't sleep at all, though. How could he have slept with what had just happened?

xxx

A gentle knock on his bedroom door snapped Jasper out of his semi-conscious dazed state the next morning.

"Jasper? Are you awake?" A faint voice could be heard from behind the door, the voice belonging to none other than Charlotte.

"Yeah, come in." Jasper sat up and watched as a blinding light pooled into the room.

Charlotte emerged from its rays, fully dressed complete with a thick coat and a large backpack swung over one shoulder.

"Why are you so dressed up?" He questioned, cocking his head slightly as his eyes met her attire.

"Schwoz and I have go out. I was just letting you know."

"Really? Right now?" The previous nights events replayed throughout Jasper's mind, causing him to stare at Charlotte in disbelief. They were really leaving Ray when he needed them the most? Guilt filled Charlotte's expression, causing her to stare at the carpet.

"I know, it's terrible timing I'm so sorry. We won't have this chance again though, it's super urgent." She shifted uncomfortably in her spot while sending an apologetic look towards Jasper, who let out a deep sigh and nodded his head gently.

"Alright, it's fine. Just when will you guys be back?"

"Late tonight at the very latest. I'll text you when we're in Swellview again."

"Charlotte, hurry up we will be late!" Schwoz's yell could be faintly heard from the main room, the sound causing Charlotte to jump slightly.

"I'm sorry Jasper, seriously. I'll see you later, bye dude." She called as she ran out of the room, leaving Jasper alone.

He ran his hands through his hair and glanced at the clock on his bedside table which announced it was 5:54am. After deciding that it was too late to go back to bed, he got up, got dressed and checked on Ray.

The man lay curled up in a ball in deep sleep. While his face nuzzled into the blanket gave him a peaceful appearance, the twitching of his hands announced that his sleep was being plagued by nightmares. Still, Jasper smiled gently at the sight- At least he was asleep in the first place. Wireless headphones sat on Ray's head, the sound of meditation music leaking from them gently. Jasper stared at Ray for a moment before turning to leave. His footsteps were silent even if he knew the man wouldn't be able to hear them. Jasper really didn't want to bring the sleeping man back to reality.

The rest of the day was spent killing time aimlessly, each hour of the day dragged into one strange infinity as he waited for a text from Charlotte. By 12pm a text still hadn't come and he felt the day merge into another as he sat and watched black and white reruns on the TV. At one point he vaguely remembered an emergency news broadcast about a bridge and a phone tower or something but his mind was too tired to properly acknowledge it.

The next day he did exactly the same, only getting up to eat, pee or check on Ray. Jasper found himself laughing at how little he could stand being alone throughout the day while worry ate him up at night. Horrific explanations for Charlotte and Schwoz's absence played through his mind, each one becoming more and more gruesome than the last. God, he was so worried.

On the third day his phone charger broke, sending him on a hunt throughout the Man Cave for one that fit his phone. Curse his obscure phone choice. He refused have a dead battery just in case he finally heard from Charlotte and Schwoz, resulting in him searching for about 4 hours before finally finding one in Schwoz's room under his bed along with 3 bottles of vodka and a 6 pack of beer. Being a 23 year old Jasper had drank before, though it had never really been his favourite activity and the fact that his friends apart from Schwoz didn't drink much meant he never felt pressured to do so. Still, the longer he stared at the drinks the more he found himself craving them. After losing an hour long battle of resistance, Jasper downed the Vodka and fell asleep on the sofa.

The fourth day began with an agonising headache and occasional vomiting which led to more alcohol. Jasper made the incredible discovery that that the autosnacker did much more than hotdogs and scrambled eggs, leading to even more alcohol. Feeling adventurous , Jasper also decided that it was the perfect day to curl his hair once again. The burns on his skin showed how well that went. The rest of the day was spent sleeping and lying in a drunken haze.

On the fith day Jasper decided to quit with the drinking and instead focused his energy on completing level 39 of Bucket warriors 2. The hangover was unbearable though and he ended up only getting through the day thanks to an unhealthy amount of paracetamol and just a teeny bit more alcohol.

Jasper spent the sixth day frantically worrying about Charlotte and Schwoz once again. For them to have said nothing in six days something must have been seriously wrong. Ray did nothing but stare into space in silence yet Jasper found himself refusing to leave the mans side all day. He needed human company.

A gentle electronic chirp woke Jasper, who had been fast asleep on Ray's floor, up on the seventh morning. Groggily he reached for his phone and checked the source of the notification only to drop it once the words registered in his brain.

"JASPER IM SORRY WE'RE ON OUR WAY NOW I'LL EXPLAIN AS SOON AS WE GET BACK." The all-caps message sent shock waves of relief through the receiver. Trickles of joy streamed down his face the longer he stared at the text.

"They're okay, they're okay. Thank God" Jasper mumbled under his breath in an attempt to comfort himself. He then found himself shaking Ray awake and telling him the news, to which the man only hummed gently and fell back asleep.

Jasper stood up and thanks to the newfound energy given to him by the text, he began to clean the Man cave while judging his previous actions in the process.

Once this was done he simply sat down and waited while he lazily stared at an old sitcom on TV.

xxx

The lift beeped slightly a few hours later, announcing that someone was there and causing Jasper to turn his head to greet the duo. What he did not expect, however, was to find Schwoz and five strangers being revealed by the sliding metal door. Schwoz stepped forward into the Man cave and after a slight delay, the others followed behind him completely in sync as if Schwoz was their leader. The strangers were dressed identically with each person wearing face masks over their mouths and silicone gloves on their hands.

"We will wait here for the others." Schwoz informed the group before turning to face Jasper innocently. "Hello!" He greeted as if the scene in front of them was completely normal.

For a moment Jasper just stared, his mouth hanging open slightly as he found himself frozen thanks to the absurdity of the situation. Eventually he worked up the ability to gingerly point a finger towards the people and let out a single word.

"...Why?" Before the shorter man could answer, however, another electronic ding revealed Charlotte with another batch of people.

"Alright go on, follow Schwoz." Charlotte shooed them away gently as she spoke.

"I will show you where we will set up and where you will stay." Schwoz's voice trailed off as he and the others moved away, leaving Charlotte and Jasper behind.

"Okay, what's going on here?" Disbelief coated Jasper's face as he pointed to the spot where the people once stood. Charlotte sighed deeply while collapsing into the sofa and beginning to explain.

"I guess I should start from the beginning."

As she spoke she fiddled with a curl of her hair, repeatedly twisting it around her finger over and over again as the words exited her mouth. "Okay so when Henry died we all just accepted that he was never coming back because you know, death?"

"Well yeah but I don't see what this has to do with-"

"Schwoz started thinking that we might be able to change that. He already knew how to bring a body back immediately from like drowning and all that but what if he could undo everything the poison did to Henry's body, undo all the effects of death like decay and start his body back up again?"

Charlotte inhaled deeply.

"Schwoz thinks he's found a way to do it. We're going to try and bring Henry back to life."

Jasper immediately froze as the words replayed through his brain. Henry. Alive. Gulping, he fought back tears that threatened to spill out of his eyes while his brain registered exactly what that would mean. Henry would be there again; his heart beating and chest breathing while thinking and talking and laughing and dreaming and looking and-

"I know it's a big thing. If you want to be alone for a moment it's totally fine." Charlotte's voice sent Jasper back to the present.

"No I'm fine just... Wow. You're actually going to do this." A large grin was plastered on his face as hope began flowing back into his world.

Charlotte smiled in response and continued. "He wasn't sure on some things so he asked me to help him but now we're pretty confident it's possible. That's why these people are here."

"Are they scientists and doctors and all that stuff?"

"Yeah. They're some of the best scientists, doctors and inventors we know and they're going to be staying in some of the spare rooms and working with us on the whole revival thing."

"This is insane." Jasper muttered under his breath. He couldn't believe this was actually happening in the first place, let alone so soon. Bringing someone back to life after this long was impossible, right? "Why didn't you tell me about this though? And why did you guys just disappear for a week? I was so so worried."

Charlotte tilted her head down to the ground for a second at Jasper's words before locking eyes with her friend.

"Look, I didn't tell you about this before now because wouldn't it be worse if I had told you about it and then we decided not to go through with it? It would be like giving you a brief glimmer of hope and then smashing it to pieces while kicking you in the face and stealing your wallet. It would suck." She moved her hand to his shoulder and squeezed it lightly. "At least now even if it doesn't work we still tried. It would still hurt but it would hurt a lot less." Jasper nodded gently in response as he began to understand Charlotte's actions. "And for the disappearing thing, didn't you hear? About the bridge and the phone tower?"

"What?" Jasper stared at the ceiling, trying to recall anything about it and then it hit him. "Oh I kind of remember a news thing about it but I don't remember what it actually said."

"Well we were over in Nevada to try and meet the scientists and one of them lives on this island in a pretty big lake near a phone tower. Somehow the tower knocked over, fell into the lake, destroyed the bridge to the island and killed most people in the lake through electrocution or being smashed by a phone tower."

"Holy shit."

"Yeah. We weren't hurt, just stuck on the island for a few days with no signal or WiFi. That's why we took so long."

"Do they know why it happened?"

"No. Apparently it was pretty sturdy though

so it's a bit weird that it collapsed."

Jasper hummed in response and began to think as all of the pieces of the past few months finally made sense. Scientists could be heard in the other room, their voices overlapping as they threw equipment around. For a while he just focused on the noise before a thought hit him. "Are you gonna tell Ray?" Jasper turned his head to face Charlotte and leant forward every so slightly, eager to hear her response.

After looking at the floor in thought, she finally responded. "Yeah. He deserves to know and it will probably cheer him up a LOT." Charlotte smiled gently. "Come help me tell him?"

"Sure!" The man grinned and immediately the pair made their way to their bosses room, eager to break the news.

Charlotte slowly pulled open the front to Ray's room, sending light flooding throughout the dark abyss. Each beam travelled towards the centre of the room, illuminating Ray's silhouette. He sat upright in his bed and gazed at the wall in front of him, seemingly unaware of the intruders in his room. Or perhaps he did notice, just didn't care.

"Ray? Can we talk to you?" Charlotte spoke softly, not wanting to spook the man.

There was no response, only an ever-so-slight twitch of his neck. Concerned, Charlotte sent a glance to Jasper who grimaced in return. Slowly, they edged towards Ray's bed and perched themselves on the edge.

Charlotte took a deep breath and then she spoke. "We think we've found a way to bring Henry back to life." For a moment there was no reaction. Then the words hit him. Ray lunged forwards, his eyes wide open and his mouth hanging slightly in shock.

"You can't do that that's not a thing people can do." He spoke fast, desperately attempting to disprove the others out of disbelief.

"Well we're going to do it, we've figured out how to."

"No you haven't you're a liar you're a dirty dirty dirty liar." Ray snapped at Charlotte, speaking fast and in a strange tone.

"Ray-"

"Does it make you happy telling these dirty dirty lies you liar?" The pair rolled their eyes at Ray as he continued to speak before Charlotte placed her hand on his shoulder and smiled calmly, stopping him in his rambling.

"Ray I'm serious. I'm not lying. Henry might be coming back." Slowly his expression changed, the disbelief morphing into a dazed happiness.

"Really?" He whispered as he stared wide eyed at Charlotte, who nodded slightly and widened her smile. Ray broke into a grin as tears began to roll down his face and he pulled the two into a tight hug. Charlotte, Jasper and Ray stayed like that for a while, crying softly thanks to the newfound hope.

 _Henry was going to live again._

 **I feel like I write Jasper too much like Henry tbh ahh oops. I'm just trying to make him a little more tired and mature but it's not working out tbh.**


	5. Grave robbers

**This is actually 5k words of dialogue and drabble I'm not even kidding this is legit so bad. Sorry for the wait, writers block hit me like a brick.**

Charlotte stood in front of Jasper's door with her eyes locked onto the plain surface. That night the stress of bringing Henry back kept her awake; It's hands reached for her neck every time she started to drift away and left her gasping for air. There was no way she could sleep like this. Somehow she had ended up here, right outside of Jasper's room without any memories of traveling to the spot. Part of her wanted to knock, to burst in and demand that Jasper pat her head and smile softly while listening to her worries, though her hand remained paralysed at her side. She couldn't do it.

Over the past 5 months she and Jasper had become extremely close. With Ray having spent all of his time 'entertaining' miscellaneous women or sulking in a pile of depression and anger and with Schwoz never being around, she and Jasper had ended up clinging onto each other between sobs more times than she could count.

This hadn't always been the case. Although the two had been close friends, the pair had never really clicked as much together as they had with Henry. It didn't mean that she had disliked Jasper, in fact she considered him one of her best friends and held him incredibly close to her heart. She knew she could go to Jasper with any problem or say anything she wanted to him and the man would not judge her no matter what and while she loved this, it was the exact reason for the distance that separated the two. Henry could be a bit mean, actually Henry was straight up a dick a lot of the time, though he just responded to Charlotte in a way that Jasper's mind simply didn't allow. Henry just got Charlotte and Charlotte just got Henry.

On the other hand, Jasper was closer to Henry for very different reasons. It was no secret that Jasper's home life had always been mentally and physically abusive. Most of the time his mother neglected him, only paying him any mind when she was stoned or if he decided to order something that he would actually enjoy so she could tear it from his hands. You wouldn't guess from how the man acted, but this had destroyed him. Henry was his saviour. Henry gave him attention, kindness, protection, and friendship and Jasper clung to this and never let him go.

At first the two were just close friends and nothing more but over time Jasper's feelings towards Henry had changed. Charlotte had noticed how the slightest touch from Henry would melt away all of Jasper's tension. Charlotte had noticed how he would do absolutely anything for Henry without a second thought. Charlotte had noticed the heartbreak in Jasper's eyes when the effects of the love muffin wore off. She could read Jasper like a book.

This was part of the reason why Charlotte couldn't just bring herself to knock on the door. Not only had Jasper lost a friend by losing Henry, but he had also lost the one he had loved and the one who had kept him going all of those years despite his abusive mother. Nothing Charlotte felt could compare to that and honestly felt ashamed for coming to him with such a stupid problem even if she knew Jasper wouldn't mind one bit. There was nothing to lose with reviving Henry and there was a brief glimmer of hope for once so why was she so scared to mess up?

Charlotte clenched her hand in embarrassment and lent her forehead against the cold surface of whatever material the door was made out of; Even keeping her head up had become too difficult for her.

There was another reason that kept her hand against her side so desperately. She really didn't want to wake up Jasper. For so long now the man had barely slept thanks to Henry's death and every minute of sleep was so important to his health that she couldn't stand cutting it short. At this point they were family and all she wanted was for him to be happy and healthy. Lost in her dilemma, she continued to just stand there. Thinking.

xxx

On the other side of the door Jasper found himself slowly being pulled away from his sleep. A painful pressure nagged at his lower abdomen, tearing away his peaceful rest and leaving him confused and uncomfortable. He really needed to pee. For a while Jasper continued to lie there, his tired mind fighting his bladder as he desperately clung onto the warmth of his bed.

Eventually his bladder reigned victorious, however, and the feeling overpowered him, causing him to grunt in frustration as he carefully stepped out of his comfy heaven and began to hobble towards the exit. He pulled open the door only to find Charlotte suddenly right in his face, the unexpected appearance sending him jumping back and making the pressure in his bladder about 10x worse.

"Ah geez." He muttered as he pushed past the women and ran to the bathroom before he lost control over his body.

Charlotte simply stood still and watched as he waddled away, both shocked and bewildered, and stayed in that spot until Jasper strolled back to her a few minutes later. "Sorry, I just really needed to pee." He laughed softly and rubbed the back of his neck as he gestured for her to come into his room.

At first Charlotte stood in his room like a lost child though she soon plopped onto the soft rug beneath her and settled between a stray sock and a half eaten bar of chocolate. "So, what's up?" Jasper tilted towards Charlotte, his body leaning over the edge of his bed which he sat on.

"I just couldn't sleep." She admitted while twirling her finger around a curl of hair.

"Henry thing?" Charlotte nodded in response. "He's coming back isn't he? Why are you sad about it?"

"I know, but it's just..." Charlotte glanced around, searching for the right words. "There's just so much that could go wrong. This has never been done before. What is we completely fail? What if we manage to bring him back but he's like some monster? What if we bring him back but the rest of his life is spent in horrific agony? It's just so risky. I was so confident but now oh my god, what was I thinking? There's no way I can do this." As she spoke tears threatened to spill out of her eyes and her shoulders hunched against her neck in an attempt to disappear.

Jasper locked eyes with her and smiled calmly, masking the concern that was creeping up inside of him. "I'm sure it is super risky but it's worth it. You said so yourself, at least you'll have tried!"

"Isn't it selfish, though? What if he doesn't want to come back? Being dead must be a million times nicer than being alive in excruciating pain or an eternal coma." Charlotte's head turned to the floor and her unfocused eyes trailed the shape of the rug below her.

"You guys will definitely be able to find some way to make life good for him. I'm sure of it." The man slowly shut his eyes. "I believe in you, Schwoz and everyone you chose to help. This is going to be amazing, okay? Even if it doesn't work at least we tried and Henry's death won't be in vain."

Nodding slightly, a faint smile formed on Charlotte's lips while her shoulders gradually relaxed. Eventually her breathing steadied and she stretched out onto the floor.

For a little while Jasper said nothing else, wanting to wait until he was entirely sure Charlotte had calmed down, and then he decided to ask her something that had been nagging at his brain all day. "How are you guys actually going to do it?"

Letting out a deep sigh, Charlotte began to explain. "There are four parts to this whole thing. The first part is reviving the effects of being dead for a while like decay and rigor mortis and skin detachment. This stage is probably going to be the most difficult because we're pretty much rebuilding his entire body."

"Don't you turn kind of liquidy after like 5 months?" Jasper's eyes were wide as the full extent of how gruesome death was hit him.

"Normally, yeah. Apparently he was buried in a really fancy coffin that slows down the whole decay thing so it should be a lot less bad than it normally would be after 5 months. It's still going to be disgusting and difficult, though." Charlotte sat up and began to wave her hands around while she spoke, finding herself lost in her explanation. "The second part is to figure out what the poison did to his body and undo it and the third part is to sort out all of the dead brain cells."

"Is that even possible? The brain cell thing?"

"Shwoz invented something that can revive the majority of cells so it should be easy. I hope. Anyway, the fourth and final part is starting up and maintaining Henry's body."

"Wow." Jasper's mouth gaped open as he realised just how difficult this was going to be. Despite this the man forced a smile and persevered through his fear, more for Charlotte's sake than his own. "You and Schwoz are the smartest people I know. This will be no problem for you guys!"

Charlotte looked towards the floor and said nothing else, leaving the two in a strong silence for a few moments until Jasper one again shattered the nothingness. "I really miss him."

"I miss him too." The sound of her face slowly colliding with the carpet was louder than her voice which was practically a whisper.

Jasper let out a sigh as memories began to fill his head, causing Charlotte to look at him in interest.

"Hey, remember when we went bowling together when we were sophomores?"

A soft chuckle left Charlotte's mouth as Jasper's words brought the memory to the front of her mind. "Yeah, Henry was insanely good. Didn't he get a strike on every single go on every single game we played?" She gazed at the ceiling, a sad smile painted on her face.

"The staff were so shocked they gave him free headphones from one of the arcade machines there!" Warmth began to spread across his body while his heart beat faster and faster as he remembered the full moment. "It was the same pair I had saved up for ages to get but my mom broke so I was a little sad about it but as soon Henry got them he gave them to me!" A grin spread across his lips. "I still have them. Only one ear works now, though."

"He could be so sweet sometimes." She sat up and leant against the side of Jasper's bed, her face nuzzling into his sheets.

Suddenly she tilted her neck and a sharp cracking noise resounded throughout the room, causing Jasper to wince, though she ignored it and continued to talk. "When I first met him I assumed he was just some generic fuckboy but I'm so glad I actually gave him a chance."

Jasper hummed and ran his fingers through his hair. "He was just..." The man opened his mouth yet no sound fell out. Overwhelming emotions ran through his mind yet he couldn't quite put them into words.

A smirk appeared on Charlotte's face as she stared at Jasper with an eyebrow raised. In her eyes was a certain something that made Jasper squirm in his seat uncomfortably.

"What?"

She continued to say nothing, the knowing glare only strengthened thanks to his reaction.

The silent battle went on for a while, neither willing to speak, though eventually Jasper gave up and he fell back, his head colliding with his pillow. Charlotte rolled her eyes before shutting them briefly.

"Back then we would have never have talked like this." Jasper's words sent Charlotte's eyes flickering open. "I guess that's the one good thing that came out of this."

The woman hummed and a silence once again filled the room. It was strange how words weren't needed when you've been through a lot with someone. The peace stretched from a minute to ten, the barely audible ticking of Charlotte's watch being the only sound resounding throughout Jasper's bedroom.

"By the way, your room is absolutely hideous." Charlotte's disgusted tone and playful grin restored conversation before the silence became awkward.

"How!? It's nice! Why would you even say that!?" Jasper leapt up, his hand covering his mouth in mock horror. Charlotte let out a gentle laugh.

"I'm literally lying next to dirty underwear. Why are you okay with living in this rubbish?"

The two carried on with this for a while, sharing meaningless banter between them until the jokes became less and less frequent and their eyelids became more and more droopy. Eventually, the exhaustion overpowered them and they fell asleep.

xxx

Everyone stood scattered around in what once was the guest room, each person eyeing up the unrecognisable machines that lay scattered along the floor. A bed was pushed against the wall, the completely ordinary sight clashed with the jumble of strange devices and medical equipment.

"Wow." Jasper's mouth hung open in against awe of the sight in front of him.

"So, this is where it's going to happen?" Ray picked up a machine that sat at his feet, earning himself an angry squeak from a scientist setting up another piece of equipment nearby. Taken aback, Ray placed the machine back where he found it and moved his hands up in defeat. "Sheesh."

"Don't. Touch. Anything." Charlotte shot daggers with her eyeballs at Ray who rolled his eyes. "But yeah, pretty much. Some things are in Schwoz's lab because they're too big to fit in here, though."

"Those most be some big machines."

"Charlotte?"

A voice interrupted Ray's words as the owner ducked under the doorframe and entered the room. An unfamiliar woman stared down at the others in the room, her height sending chills down Jasper's spine as he felt himself shrink in her presence.

"We've finished setting up the freezer. Do you want to have a look or...?"

"Yeah, sure." Charlotte lifted her hand from the wall she had been leaning against and took a step towards the door.

However, Jasper's voice stopped her footsteps. "A freezer? Oh, are we having ice-cream?" Sparkles formed in his eyes as he bounced up and down on one spot. Somehow the man's brain decided to blank out all logical explanations and instead focus on ice-cream.

Charlotte shot him a judgemental stare in disbelief while she moved her hand up to signify her confusion. "Cryogenic freezer."

"It's to preserve Kid Danger's body." The unfamiliar woman added with a wide grin.

Now that Jasper had properly looked at her she had become a lot less intense. One hand was placed on her lip loosely and her lab jacket was tied around her waist, giving her a carefree aura, and one of her eyebrows arched with her smile.

She extended her free arm and for a moment Jasper simply stared, unknowing of whether to take it or not. Eventually he reached towards the hand and shook it, leaping back as his hand was almost crushed by the strength of her grip. The woman smirked at this reaction.

"I'm Ellis Pryce and I'm Swellview's head mortician. I also dabble a little bit in the whole science and invention thing, though. It's a honour to meet you guys." Her hand slid away from Jasper's and she instead turned to face Ray, her smile splitting into a grin as her eyes met his. "Especially you, Captain Man. I'm such a fan this is insane. I honestly can't believe I'm meeting you!"

Almost immediately Ray's face turned several shades paler as he stared at her with dumbstruck eyes. "How do you know that?" The man snapped, his hands clenched into fists as he prepared himself to strike though Charlotte's hand against his shoulder brought him back to reality.

"Alright, calm down big guy."

"But Charlotte, how can we trust her? What if she blabbers about this? We don't even know her! Do the others know? Oh my God." Ray buried his face into his palms and groaned.

"Jesus, Ray, you need to calm down. Of course they know who you and Henry are they're literally bringing Kid Danger back to life and they're living here!" Charlotte lightly hit the man's shoulder while she let him go. "Anyway, we have a contract and we may or may not have bribed and threatened them into keeping this a secret. We can trust them."

Once again, Ray groaned.

"Don't worry, I really won't tell. I pinky promise. All I want is to bring Kid Danger back to life. Really."

Ray once again rolled his eyes and groaned. Although the man had been much happier since Jasper and Charlotte had broken the news to him that Henry might be coming back, his emotions were unpredictable and it was insanely easy to make him snap.

"But yeah, we've finished setting up the freezer and you should probably come have a look. You know, see how it works and all that." Ellis paused and stared at the floor before suddenly jumping up and pointing to no where in particular. "Right! When are we going to get his body?"

"Tonight will be good, won't it?" Schwoz, who had been fiddling with an abnormally shaped machine the entire time, finally stood up and joined in.

Charlotte put her finger against her chin for a moment before abruptly moving it. "Okay, tonight it is then." Charlotte walked through the doorway though she stopped suddenly and turned to face those inside just as she was about to move out of sight. "Ray, Jasper, get out of there you have no idea what you're doing. You'll mess something up."

With a playful smile she disappeared, Ellis following closely behind her. Both Ray and Jasper protested and continued to grab onto every machine they could inside the makeshift hospital, though they soon got bored and left to play video games.

xxx

This was definitely the best Jasper had seen Ray for months.

His boss lay sprawled along the sofa, his limbs sticking up in odd angles, as he stuffed his face full of guacamole dipped nachos while yelling at Mario kart. It was almost as if they had leapt back a year in time and that Angel was a stranger to them all. It felt alien to see him like this once again and Jasper was just glad he finally seemed happier. Still, curiosity grew inside of him until he confronted Ray just after finishing a race.

"You seem really happy. Why?"

"Huh?"

"I don't know, it's just... All of a sudden, I guess?"

Ray's smile switched into sincerity as he stretched and looked up at the ceiling. "Henry's coming back."

"We don't know for sure it's going to work..."

"Still." The superhero held his outstretched palms to the light and traced their shape with his eyes. "It's hope." He let out a sigh and shifted upright, his eyes locking with Jasper's in the process. "Honestly, I feel so shit. My best friend is dead and oh my God I murdered someone."

Ray's voice cracked as the words left his mouth, momentarily shattering is composure and leaving a pained expression open on his face.

Quickly, he pushed the facade back on, shook his hands as if he was shaking off the feelings, and forced a smile. "I can't undo it. Actually, I could using the time machine in storage but I'm not doing that again after the ox pox incident."

"Ox pox?" Jasper raised an eyebrow.

"Oh right you weren't here then. Anyway I can't do anything but try and distract myself. And not like the way I did last time which just hurt a lot more, but by being around you guys and reading. Stuff like that. I'm just so sick of being sad."

"It's good that you're trying to be happy but it's okay to be sad." He bit his lip as he decided his next words. "Just don't bottle up your problems. We're here for you dude."

Ray smiled and waved his hand. "You know, Jasper, I really used to hate you. Not even just hated, I despised you. Over time I've started to like and appreciate you. Thanks, Jasper." The man slipped into his corny superhero voice for the first time in what seemed like forever and put his hand on Jasper's shoulder.

Jasper's face lit up.

"Really?!" A big grin was plastered over his mouth, causing Ray to sigh and nod. Jasper's grin didn't fade as he selected the next track and began the next race.

xxx

After a dozen or so more races their game was interrupted by a swarm of scientists entering the main room. Charlotte and Schwoz lead the group, their faces disappearing into black scarves and their hands hidden by black gloves.

Jasper just stared at them for a moment, unable to make sense of the situation but then it clicked. Before he could speak, however, Ray stole the words right out of his mouth.

"Are you guys gonna go to the cementary now?"

"Yeah." Charlotte adjusted the scarf which hid her mouth as she spoke.

"I feel like an angsty teenage goth." Schwoz blurted out, his an decent turning the word 'goth' into 'gohheaaath' and causing Ray to stifle a giggle.

"I quite like it. I feel like all sneaky, like a spy." Ellis attempted to roll over the sofa gracefully yet she managed to end up as a pile on the floor with her legs up in the air elegantly. "On second thought, maybe you guys should get someone else to help you do this."

"Why are you dressed like a bad villain?"

Ray stepped over the mortician and tugged at Charlotte's scarf, unravelling the work Charlotte had put so much effort into adjusting.

Dressed in black from head to toe, she looked insanely out of place against the bright blues and reds of the man cave. "We're trying to dress dark so we don't stand out when getting his body." She snatched the scarf out Ray's hands and began to tie it around over her lower face once again.

"I thought you guys would have gotten permission to do this?" Jasper called over to them from the sofa.

"We decided to keep this as much of a secret as possible so we're just going to steal it." The woman grunted in frustration as she messed up tying the scarf for the third time.

Ray sighed and pulled it out of her hands once again. "Jesus Christ, you're terrible at this. Let me do it." Ray wrapped the scarf around her and pulled the knot in seconds, earning himself an embarrassed glare from the shorter woman. "So, you're literally stealing a dead body from a grave?"

"Yep."

Ray shrugged. "Good luck." He moved back to sit down, though a small fist grabbed onto his shirt, stopping him in his tracks.

"Wait, wait, wait." Charlotte gestured widely with her hand as an idea popped into her head.

"I'm waiting." Patting her hand away, he turned to face her.

"Okay so, you're Captain Man."

"Yes, Charlotte, I think that's been established by now." Although his voice was dry in sarcasm the corner of his lips turned upwards in amusement.

"Oh shut up. You can pretty much do what you want and the police won't stop you, right? So what if you came with us and just-"

The smile disintegrated . "I'm not doing that."

"Please, Ray."

"I can't-" His speech was fragmented and his eyes darted frantically as he struggled to find the right words.

"Seriously, Ray, Please. You could chase away the police and make sure we don't get arrested. If we get arrested we won't be able to bring Henry back. We need you."

"Charlotte."

"You don't even have to look. Just face the other way. Come on..."

Ray sighed and stared at the floor. Noises were emitted from his mouth in protest yet none developed into words and eventually, they came to a halt. "Alright, fine." He mumbled in defeat. "I'm not looking, though."

"Thank you." Charlotte gave the man a light squeeze and led the other five towards the lift while Ray Manchester transferred into the once great Captain Man. Sighing, he trudged after them and stepped into the lift.

"Later, Jasper." Charlotte shouted as the doors closed and Jasper was left alone.

He was really noticing a pattern here.

xxx

Captain Man appeared from the lift a few hours later, his suit completely drenched and his eyes were barely open. Another scientist in a similar condition followed his lead out of the lift and darted through the door behind the tubes, eager to rest and to escape the superhero's presence.

Captain Man transformed back into Ray and sank into the sofa next to Jasper, letting out a deafening sigh as he hit the cushioned surface.

"You okay?" Jasper gave him a concerned glance, picking up on how exhausted he looked.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. That was just... bad." He ran his hands through his soaked hair while his eyes trailed towards the lift.

"The others are coming down now with the coffin." He breathed deeply, seemingly unable to catch his breath.

"They took the entire coffin?"

As if in response to Jasper's words, the lift let out a gentle chirp and it's doors slid open to reveal the others and a coffin. Charlotte and Schwoz lay on the floor with the coffin on top of them while Ellis and another scientist were trying desperately to pull it up off of them. Ray and Jasper rushed towards them and together managed to pull it out of the lift, freeing Charlotte and Schwoz.

"I told you that was a bad idea!" Charlotte snapped at Schwoz. She moved to lift the coffin yet her fingertips froze just before she touched it, clearly repulsed by the box. Taking a deep breath, she slid her fingers under it and Ellis and the other scientist mimicked her, taking another corner of the coffin each.

"Well sorry but how else do we bring a coffin into the Man cave? There is no other way!" He grumbled in response, oblivious to the stares the others were giving him in an attempt to get him to help.

Finding the situation painful to watch, Jasper stepped in. "I'll help." He offered as he moved his hands to lift the remaining former though Charlotte quickly swatted them away, causing the coffin to drop onto Ellis's toe, who let out a high pitched squeak in response, as she let go of her corner.

"No. Schwoz needs to help us. It's the least he could do after almost killing me with a goddamn coffin!" Schwoz rolled is eyes and picked up the remaining corner of the coffin.

Together they heaved it up and slowly shuffled towards the secret door. Charlotte and Schwoz's squabbles could be heard faintly as they left.

"I got hurt by the coffin too!"

"But you're a grown man!"

"You're an adult too and you're taller than me!"

Eventually the voices could be heard no more and Jasper and Ray were left in silence.

"They seem in a bad mood." Jasper glanced at the place where they had once stood.

"I don't blame them."

"Did you..." Jasper searched for the right words, not wanting to hurt him. "Did you see him?"

Ray shook his head. "No. No one opened the coffin. They're doing that now, probably."

Jasper old nodded and the two of them waited silently.

About half an hour later Schwoz and Charlotte entered though the door. Both were shaking uncontrollably, Charlotte more so, and the pair fell into the sofa next to Ray and Jasper.

"How is it?" Ray asked Charlotte who was trying to keep her shuddering hand still and was falling miserably.

"Yeah just oh my God, it's disgusting. I can't believe I saw that." She brought her knees to her chest and curled into a ball. Jasper put his am around her in an attempt to be comforting. "Death is disgusting. How did that used to be Henry? I've hugged that before, that used to be my best friend. Holy shit." She became more and more frantic with each word.

Ray hushed her. "It's okay, Charlotte." He spoke softly, the tone of his voice surprising Jasper.

"Was it that bad?" Jasper turned to face Schwoz who nodded gingerly. Although he wasn't saying much his face was ghostly pale and his knuckles had turned pure white as he gripped onto his clothing. "It's going to be worth it."

Charlotte nodded and sighed. "I know, but it's still disgusting and just horrible." She pulled at a lose piece of skin around her thumbnail and tore it off. "I hope we can bring him back."

"You will." Ray gently poked her shoulder and she smiled ever so slightly.

Letting out a mighty yawn, Jasper stretched out and let his hand collapse to his side, the hand thudding slightly as it hit the sofa cushion. "I'm so tired." He mumbled while pulling a face in attempt to stop another yawn.

The yawn spread to Charlotte and before he knew it all four of them were yawning. Charlotte tilted her head to claim Jasper's shoulder as a pillow and began to flicker between consciousness and unconsciousness.

Ray was squished next to Jasper and Schwoz used Ray's side as a backrest, the awkward shape of the sofa left them with no choice but to huddle together for comfort. Still, it wasn't unpleasant. Warmth flowed between the four, spreading drowsiness among them.

"We need a bigger sofa." Jasper mumbled to no one in particular but himself as he felt the world slip away.

Ray hummed, barely awake, and then his response turned into soft snores.

Within minutes the four had collapsed in a pile on the sofa, soaking up each others warmth as they dreamt.

 **That was actually terrible and probably the most boring thing to read I'm so sorry lmao. I've finally 100% figured out the plot of this story though and there are 18 chapters in total so hey look forward to that. This fic is actually going to be the death of me oh my god. Thank you for reading this self indulgent mess with too much dialogue and please stick around for the next chapter! I promise it will be a little more interesting.**


	6. Seeing, and running away from, a ghost

**For any younger readers this chapter gets a bit morbid with descriptions of Henry's body and there's a very brief scene in an adult shop (where nothing is described but still) so hey just so you're aware.**

T **his chapter is sloppy but I hope you enioy!**

Ever since Henry's body had been stolen from his grave a month ago it was rare to see people anywhere other than the guestroom-turned-hospital. Hoards of scientists would gather around Henry's bed, replacing yet another organ that they had managed to get a hold of concerningly fast. Occasionally they'd finish the surgery of the day and slowly wheel Henry's body back to the freezer in the lab where it would rest until the next day. The swarms of surgeons retreating to pass out in their rooms out of sheer exhaustion always made it clear when this was the case, their heavy footsteps dragging along the hallways echoed throughout the Man Cave.

Even those who weren't surgeons such as Charlotte and Schwoz insisted on watching every moment with intense eyes until their bodies simply couldn't take it anymore. Sometimes Jasper could hear them shuffle to their rooms in the dead of the night, slowly shutting their doors in an attempt to be silent even though their tired legs had already exposed them. It seemed like he and Ray were the only ones who were getting a semi-decent nights sleep for once. Still, their dedication gave him hope.

There was hope.

Jasper tapped his toe against the stone floor, rhythmically sending a gentle thud throughout the hallway.

"Oh my God. Shut up." Ray snapped, unable to cope with the noise any longer.

An hour had passed since Schwoz had burst into the main room of the Man Cave and announced that Henry should be "De-decayed now." The pair had rushed to guest room without a second thought only to be stopped and kept outside. Still, the excitement that bubbled inside of them was enough to keep them sat outside of the guest room, desperately waiting for the moment they would finally be granted access to its contents. The moment they would finally lay their eyes on Henry.

Ray exhaled heavily and began to twist his ankles, letting his feet swing into each other. Jasper's eyes followed the motion as anticipation sent him into a daze. The action finally registered in his brain, though, and he gently nudged his foot against his boss's. Ray furrowed his brows.

"Are you ready?" Ray stared at the fluorescent lighting that filled the small space.

A sigh escaped from Jasper's lips. "Not really." His head turned to face the man sat next to him. "I guess I'm a bit scared." He paused for a second and then shook his head. "No. Really scared."

"Yeah, same."

Dust particles hovered near the light, gently swaying in the air while twinkling softly as the beams illuminated them. At any other time it would have been peaceful but all it did then was cause Jasper's fist to tighten. The sound of a metal door sliding open bellowed through the room.

"You can come in now if you want." A voice announced as the pair slowly stood up and stepped into the room, both men holding their breath as they attempted to control their limbs. Momentarily Jasper was blinded by the light that suddenly washed over them. Through blurry vision he could make out a group of people gathered at one end of the room, huddling against each other around a small bed and obscuring the reason for Jasper's presence in the first place. Charlotte glanced over her shoulder at the pair and coughed softly, parting the group and revealing the sight they had hidden. Stopping in his tracks, Jasper stared at the figure on the bed with an open jaw. Eventually he took a step, and then another one, as he shuffled towards the figure like an animal investigating new territory. As soon as it was in arms length, Jasper's hand gripped onto the bed frame to the point where his knuckles turned a ghostly shade of white as he tried to steady himself. It wasn't working; The world wouldn't stop spinning.

"Holy shit." He muttered.

Jasper's eyes trailed over the man while hot tears stream down his face and fell onto the mattress he stood over. Part of him wanted to run- To hide and never see the phantom before him again. He was staring at a ghost. He had to be going crazy. For so long he had mourned his death and now he was right in front of him? Repulsion spread throughout his body as his heart beat commanded him to run.

However, the other part of him tightened his grip on the bed frame. Joy battled the repulsion as hope began to form in his heart. Jasper found himself wanting noting more than to lean down and cup the man's face. And without realising it this is exactly what he did. Jasper's palm slowly pressed against the soft skin of Henry's cheeks only to pull away in shock.

"He's cold." Jasper whispered, his eyes wide.

Charlotte put her hand on Jasper's shoulder and squeezed it gently. "He's not alive yet."

Nodding melancholy, his hand moved once again to touch Henry, this time interlocking his palm with the man's. "I'm not going to.. mess something up? Am I?" Jasper weakly asked, realising that touching his friend might not be the safest thing to do to him at the moment.

"It's okay." Charlotte squeezed his shoulder once again. "Just be careful, okay?"

Jasper tightened his grip on Henry's hand, half expecting it to be squeezed back, though it didn't. Instead the hand stayed limp, doing nothing to help the tears that continued to stream down Jasper's face. The more and more Jasper stared at Henry the more and more surreal the whole thing felt. Parts of Henry's body were as white as the sheets he lay on while other parts were tinged crimson from settled blood. Incisions covered his body from the various skin replacements and surgeries that made his body barely his own anymore, each incision as fresh as the second they had been cut and held together by hundreds of stitches. Even his face wasn't free, with dozens of cuts around his eyes, nose and mouth, he almost looked like a patchwork quilt.

It was so goddamn gruesome.

Still, if he just defocused his eyes a little he could almost pretend that the cuts weren't there. He could almost pretend that Henry was fast asleep, his mind active and conjuring up incredible dreams as he rested peacefuly. Jasper's eyes trailed his jaw and his long eyelashes before settling on his full lips. 'He's just sleeping' he thought as he tightened his grip on his palm. 'He's just sleeping. He's just sleeping he's just sleeping hesjustsleeping hesjustsleepinghesjistseepiinghesjust-'

"Hey." Charlotte's voice shattered his inner thoughts. "I think it's time Henry went back into the freezer." A gentle tone filled her voice that Jasper had never heard before. Sighing, he released Henry's hand and placed his against his chest, clutching it as he lent into Charlotte for support.

Ray leant over the bed and ruffled Henry's hair softly. "Night, Kid." He muttered, keeping his head down as he tried to hide the tears traveling to his chin.

With that, Schwoz and a doctor pulled Henry onto a trolley and wheeled him out of the room. One by one the crowd diffused out of the room, leaving Jasper, Ray and Charlotte staring at the floor solemnly.

"I should probably go and help." Pointing her finger towards the door, she started back and forth between the exit and her friends. She bit her lip. "I have an idea. I'll tell you in a minute just... Go wait in the main room. Okay?" She vanished out of the door, leaving the pair to their sniffling.

xxx

The pair did as she said and waited in the main room until Charlotte finally appeared through the secret door.

"Hey." The woman greeted as if she had not just stared at her dead friend's corpse for half an hour. Though she must have been used to it, Jasper supposed. After all, she had barely left the surgeons alone.

"What's going on?" Ray rose from his seat and strolled over to her, his hands resting in his pockets as he walked.

Charlotte leant against the wall. "Alright. So, you guys have barely left the Man Cave for a month now and it's not healthy. How about you guys go shopping?"

Jasper stared at her dumb struck. "...Shopping. Right now?"

"Charlotte, this really doesn't seem like the right time for shopping."

The men exchanged a glance in disbelief, causing Charlotte to sigh. "Well you guys can't just stay home all day. Besides, we're going to need clothes for Henry soon so you may as well get outside and get them now." She bought her hand to her eyes and rubbed them while stifling as yawn. "Staying in isn't healthy."

Exhaling deeply, Ray relaxed his shoulders in defeat. "Okay, okay. What do you want us to get?"

For a moment the woman brought her hand to her chin and shut her eyes before abruptly jumping to life. "We definitely need some hospital gowns. Some casual clothes will be good too. Preferably easy things to put on like t-shirts or those shirts with the popper things instead of buttons."

"Oh I love those!" Jasper jumped onto his tiptoes as his eyes glistened in excitement.

"Wait, they make those? I've never used them."

"Oh my God. Guys." Charlotte tapped her foot impatiently. "Just... Go have fun, okay?" Her eyes slowly fluttered between open and closed as she let out a deep yawn. "I'm 'gonna go take a nap." After pointing, or at least trying to point, in the direction of the secret door she slowly shuffled away to the exit.

"Shotgun." Jasper yelled as he made his way to the lift, sticking his hand up in the air.

"Jasper, it's only you and me. You can't drive. You're going to have the front passenger seat anyway." The older man rolled his eyes a this employee while following behind him. "There is literally no need for shotgun."

"It's always better to safe than sorry." A pleased smile spread over the man's face, causing Ray to roll his eyes.

xxx

The drive to the mall was pretty short though that didn't make the journey any less emotionally scarring. Ray's Man Van seemed to host it's very own ecosystem under the seats with rotting god-knows-what and a concerning amount of bugs residing inside the vehicle. Even Jasper, someone who tended not to be bothered by things like this, found himself swallowing his own vomit multiple times throughout the five minute ride.

It was disgusting.

Finally, after the torture that felt like it had endured for hours, the van pulled into the car park and Jasper burst out of the door, gasping for clean air.

"You REALLY need to clean in there." He spoke between gasps as he clung to the wall of the van with his back hunched over.

"What do you mean? It's perfectly fine in there."

Jasper let out one last violent heave in response as he tried to keep his insides inside of him. Ray simply rolled his eyes and strolled towards the entrance, leaving Jasper running after him.

Colours bombarded them as soon as they stepped through the mall doors. Every were they looked there were unnecessarily large screens and bright shops screaming about sales and discounts.

"50% off."

"Last chance to buy!"

"Sale!!"

No matter where they turned their heads their eyes were always filled with these words.

"Ahh the mall. How beautiful is capitalism." Ray sighed as he gazed at the sight with glazed eyes.

"So, where are we going?" Squinting, Jasper tried to make out a map at the other end of the mall though his vision failed to understand the too small colours and squiggles, causing him to let out a small grunt.

Ray grabbed Jasper's arm and abruptly stopped his footsteps, sending the people behind them crashing in to the pair and earning himself some unpleasant glares. "Ooh I know, how about Antonie Forbes." The man rolled his Rs and wiggled his hips, adding to his collection of glares from passers by that he had somehow collected in 2 minutes.

"Isn't that place really fancy? Like four hundred bucks for a t-shirt fancy?" Jasper pulled the older man out of the way of the shoppers who seemed more and more likely to kill the pair with each passing second.

"Yeah, but it's such good quality! You 'gotta have a little luxury in your life, you know?!"

"But we can't afford that! We barely have any money!"

For the most part Junk-n-stuff had remained closed since Henry's death and with Ray refusing to be Captain Man, they no longer received donations and reward money from capturing criminals, leaving them with no income. Through his father's will and semi-carful spending Ray's savings account surprisingly contained enough to live comfortably for a short while, though the money was slowly but surely being used up and it didn't seem like a smart idea to blow it on $400 t-shirts. Especially now that a large portion of their money was being put towards bringing Henry back.

"Come onnnn" Ray moaned, kicking the floor as he had a mini tantrum.

Sighing, Jasper attempted to reason with him. "Dude... What about Lenny's?"

At the words he froze immediately. "Lenny's? Seriously? You want to go to Lenny's?" The man leant forward, looking down on Jasper in disbelief. His tone became increasingly more erratic as he talked, sending Jasper stepping backwards. "We may as well go and rummage though the garbage, then!"

Jasper stuck out his bottom lip. "But I like Lenny's."

"Well that explains a lot."

"Hey!" Jasper pushed his lip out even further as his brows furrowed. For a moment he crossed his arms as frustration built up inside of them though he shut his eyes and exhaled gently, letting calmness take over him. "Hey, what about La Platypus?"

"Ugh, fine." Ray kicked the floor and followed the younger man as they ventured through the mall, fighting against free samples and flashy unneeded items that appeared at every corner of the commercial labyrinth. Finally, after a walk that seemed like it took decades, they reached their destination and began to focus on their next mission:

Actually buying clothes.

It was a surprisingly difficult to focus on this goal, though, when everything they could ever possibly want to look at and buy was chucked together into one department store. They did manage to find some clothes, though it seemed every 5 seconds one of the pair would run off, over excited by some random item.

"Hey, Jasper, look at this!" Ray waved around a pair of ten inch heels in his hands.

"What?" Jasper, who had been admiring the brightly coloured socks, dropped a sushi patterned pair and turned to face his boss.

"Bet you ten bucks I can walk from here to over there in these." He pointed towards the other side of the floor they were on, a single was eyebrow raised as he emitted confidence.

"There's no way you can walk in those." Sighing, Jasper ran his fingers through his strands of hair. "You'll break your ankle!"

"Uh, no." Ray took a single step towards Jasper, slouching his body and keeping his arms firmly against his side in the exaggerated movement. "I'm indestructible. Remember? And is it a bet or not?" He pushed the heels against Jasper's face, causing the younger man to wince.

"Alrighttt fine. It's a bet."

Less than two minutes later Ray Manchester was stumbling across the shop floor in the heels, knocking over about every display in his path and mowing down hoards of innocent shoppers. Mothers clutched onto their children as they fled for safety while onlookers stood frozen in horror at the grown man. Half of the floor had already been destroyed by the time a group of disgruntled security guards escorted the pair out of the store.

As they left through the automatic doors the manager of the store personally announced to them that they had been banned for life.

xxx

"Stupid security guards. Ruining our fun."

Ray lent against the window of a shop, swinging a pair of shopping bags around violently.

Jasper stepped back in an attempt to avoid the lethal weapons. "Eh. You DID take down half of the store." He waved his hand dismissively before moving his palm to rest on his hip. "Anyway, I totally won the bet."

"Um, No. No you didn't. Remember? I walked in them!"

Jasper dodged another shopping bag attack from Ray, this time missing the hit by mere centimetres. "Dude, you DESTROYED THE STORE. Plus you only made it half of the way."

Ray swung the bags once again, this time successfully hitting Jasper in the stomach, sending Jasper hunching over while letting out a groan at the sensation.

"If it wasn't for the security guards I would have gone all the way, though. It's their fault!" Letting out a sigh, Ray dropped the bags to the floor. "Okay, how about this? You give me ten bucks and give you..."

He trailed off as he dug through his pockets, throwing old receipts onto the floor in the process while a small frown formed on his face. The frown was replaced with a smile, though, as he pulled out a small card and pushed it into Jasper's face.

"...This loyalty card for Shakeserona! There's only 6 more shakes until you get a free one!"

Jasper's eyes lit up as he pulled the card out of Ray's hands and cradled it in his own before pulling a $10 note out of his pocket and handing it to Ray. "Deal!"

xxx

Ray and Jasper stood in front of a shop, debating whether or not they should enter.

After getting kicked out of La Platypus they had devoted the rest of their search to finding a hospital gown though it seemed they were a lot more difficult to find than they had previously expected. Costume shop after costume shop had been turned upside down during their hunt yet not a single hospital gown was on sale.

After their fifth, and final, costume shop an idea had struck Ray's mind - They should check the sex shop. According to Ray "Those kinky bastards would love them" so there they stood, their eyes trailing the letters of the dull sign that simply read "Private shop." It was the only place they had left to look but still, Jasper found himself wanting nothing more than to turn away.

"Do you really think they'll have them?" Jasper mumbled, turning to look at the floor as he shifted uncomfortably in his spot.

"Maybe. We've looked everywhere else." Ray didn't seem bothered at all about the store with his hands loosely resting in his pockets and his back casually slouched. "I guess we could steal some from Swellview hospital or order some online but we may as well look now that we're here." He glanced at Jasper only to notice the awkward wreck he had become. "Dude it's only a sex shop. It's not a big deal. You're an adult."

The blush on Jasper's cheeks only reddened. "Still... I don't know, it's just awkward."

"Come on, it will only be quick." Ray half pushed Jasper through the door before he had to reply, leaving him dazed by the various objects that flashed through his vision.

Just like that, Jasper's childhood was gone. Over. Dead.

Ray lead the way, seemingly familiar with the layout before spotting something in the corner. "Told you they'd have them!" He half yelled as he picked up a hospital gown wrapped in plastic packaging.

"They look a bit... Short." Jasper's cheeks slowly began to fade to their normal tone as he calmed down, realising the shop wasn't as big of a deal as he had expected.

Ray waved his hand. "Ah, we'll just get a big size. That should fit fine." He rummaged through the pile for a moment before scooping up three extra large costumes and heading to the till. Soon they were out of the shop and heading towards a pizzeria, satisfied with their successful trip.

xxx

Both men were casually stuffing their faces with pizza while talking about nothing in particular until Ray said something that left Jasper frozen mid mouthful.

"I signed up for counselling."

The pizza slice slid out of Jasper's hands as his face split into a grin that spread across his face. "Really!? That's great!"

"Yeah. I guess I'm just tired of feeling so down all of time. I should have gone a lot sooner really." Ray puffed out his cheeks as he spoke between bites of his pizza. "I'm not exactly the healthiest mentally thanks to my wacked up childhood thanks to the whole indestructible thing."

Jasper nodded gently. "So when do you start?"

"In a week." The man put down his slice and took a sip from his drink. "I was a bit iffy about telling her my identity but they have a confidentiality thingymadoodle, right? Either way, I made her swear an oath." He closed his eyes. "I hope it helps."

Jasper's grin faded to an honest smile as he locked eyes with Ray. "It will."

xxx

At 7pm they returned to the man cave, both men's arms full with shopping bags from the trip. What they were not expecting was to find Charlotte curled up on the sofa with a glass knocked over at her feet, lying in a puddle of it's own contents.

"Charlotte!" Jasper immediately rushed towards her, dropping the bags as he shook her shoulders, trying to force her into consciousness.

"Is she alright?" Ray put his hand on the man's shoulder as he hovered over the sleeping woman, concern painted over his face.

At first there was no response but after a few moments of stillness the woman let out a small grunt as she began to stir back to life. "What?" Charlotte mumbled while staring at nothing in particular, her eyes still blurry from sleep.

"Are you okay?" Jasper lent closer to her, not bothering to even slightly mask the panic in his eyes.

A deep yawn filled the room as Charlotte extended her arm and stretched. "Yeah... I'm fine. Just so tired..." She yawned once again and let her head fall back onto the sofa as she began to slip away.

"You need to sleep more, you're going to hurt yourself." Ray let out a sigh while ruffling her hair and pulling off his jacket before draping it over her.

Jasper gave her a quick squeeze before the pair silently evacuated the room, careful not to wake Charlotte from her long deserved rest.

 **I felt like they deserved a little break from being sad and stuck in the man cave lmao.**

 **Anyway Tundura on tumblr made a sick ass Hensper discord and you're welcome to join! The invite is haeF2nR!**

 **Also I've gone back and edited all of the chapters up so far of this fic and made all the paragraphs a bit easier to read I've also made each scene/big time jumps clearer by writing xxx to seperate it up more. None of the actual content was edited, its just a bit easier to read now!**

 **Finally, please follow my tumblr Bigpoppajasper for Henry Danger fan art, headcanons and just general fan stuff!!**


	7. Machine dependant life

**I finished this chapter in like 4 days I'm not even kidding this is so rushed wow.**

A Celine Dion song blasted into Jasper's ears. Sprawled on the sofa, a soft smile rested on his face as he took in every note. Perfectly at peace, he sighed in relaxation.

Ray's sudden yell disrupted the melody.

"Oh my god, look at this!" Ray burst through the secret door, enthusiastically waving around some strange device that he was seemingly determined to get everyone to look at.

"What is it?" As soon as Jasper's eyes ran over the object his face twisted in confusion. No matter how much he stared he simply couldn't tell what it was supposed to be. A necklace? An arm band?

"It's a headband that..." The man took a deep breath for dramatic effect, sending Charlotte's eyes rolling. "...Reads your emotions! It's GENUIS." He gestured violently with his hands, almost dropping the device on multiple occasions.

Jasper's jaw dropped open. "Wow." Gasping, he leapt upwards and ran towards the device, jumping slightly on the spot as he got a closer look.

Charlotte sighed and crossed her arms while putting the book she had been reading onto the floor. "...Why?"

"You've got to try it, it's amazing!" Suddenly he pounced on her and began to move the device towards Charlotte's head who, without hesitation, swatted it out of his hands and onto the floor. "Hey! If that's broken I'm taking it out of your pay cheque!" Pouting a little, he reached down and, after checking it for damage, put it on his head.

For the most part, twice a week Ray would disappear for two hours to see his therapist. Every time followed the same pattern: When he left he'd be shaking with fear and when he returned he'd either be glowing with joy or have tears in his eyes, there was no in between. Still, little by little he changed for the better and Jasper couldn't be more proud of his boss for starting to come to terms with not only Henry's death but his entire messed up childhood. There's was still a long way to go but it was progress. Ray was finally becoming happier.

Other than that, very little had changed in the man cave. The past few weeks had been spent preparing to bring Henry back to life and it seemed like the event they were preparing for wasn't going to happen any time soon. Still, the most difficult part was over now.

A soft blue light flickered on the headband on Ray's head. "It's working, right? What colour is it?" The man tilted his head back, craning his neck to try and see the colour even though it was physically impossible.

"Dark blue. Apparently you are..." Jasper paused as he picked up the leaflet that Ray had dropped and turned the pages, scanning it for the description, and then placed it on the side. "...Content and calm!" The corner of his lips upturned slightly and Ray's followed.

"See, told you. This things MAGIC."

From the corner of the room Charlotte shook her head and rested her face in her palm, concealing a smile. The silence returned in the room, everyone comfortable with the peaceful atmosphere that had settled there.

Then Schwoz threw open the door.

"Charlotte!" The heavy accented voice cried as he stormed towards the woman, his eyebrows furrowed. "Where is the ventilator!?"

For a moment Charlotte only tilted her head in confusion as the words linked together in her head. "What? Wasn't that Mark's job?"

Schwoz's brows only further furrowed as he swung his hands around. "Well, that's what I thought! But Mark said it was Siân's job but no! She said it wasn't hers and that it was yours! So where is it!?"

Protesting, Charlotte began to mimick the man's hand movements in frustration. "Well, I don't know! It's not my job!" Her eyes slowly shut while she exhaled deeply, attempting to free the tension that had built up inside of her. "Okay, so do we literally not have a ventilator?"

"Apparently!" He swung his foot at the floor a couple of times, sending a horrible squeaking noise through the cave. Ray flinched.

Charlotte pursed her lips together before letting out yet another sigh that morphed into a grunt. "Well we're going to have to buy one then." She reached her hand to her head and pulled on a curl of hair, repeatedly stretching it into a long straight strand. "Where do you even buy a Ventilator on such short notice? You can't exactly walk into Tesco and be all 'hey one life support ventilator please thanks'."

"Come on, guys." Ray pulled off the headband and began to pace the floor. "Just steal one from a hospital."

Raising an eyebrow, the woman threw her hands out in disbelief before picking up her book from the floor. "Ray, you can't just STEAL a ventilator from the hospital. Someone needs that!" She lightly swatted the man with the book in her hands.

"Sure you can, no biggy." He rubbed the area where Charlotte hit him with his palm. "Just sneak in there and take it!"

"Boy, no!" Charlotte pivoted away from her boss. "Schwoz, can't you just make one?"

Immediately Schwoz's fists clenched as his floor kicking became more violent. "But I don't want to!" He cried, looking an awful lot like an angry toddler.

"Come on, it will be quick."

"Why me? Why can't you!?"

"I ain't doing that." She shook her head and moved her hand to her hip. "Come on, make ittt."

Schwoz puffed out his cheeks and swung his foot towards the floor one last time. "Okay, okay fine. I'll make the damn ventilator." He turned and stormed away, mumbling under his breath about being the only one who makes things in the man cave.

xxx

Schwoz worked on the ventilator non stop, crafting it from a broken air conditioning unit and, without Jasper's permission, Jasper's favourite desk fan. Jasper didn't care though as long as it would let Henry live. In only a day the ventilator was complete and the preparation was finished, meaning they could finally focus on the actual task:

Figuring out how the hell they were going to start up Henry's body again.

It was strange, every day people were brought back to life from recent death through CPR so starting Henry's body up again shouldn't have been that difficult. To make the matter even more frustrating, Henry had an artificial heart for now so it should have been artificial case of simply turning it on though it seemed they were a lot more complicated to start when the person was already dead. So for a week the team had practically lived in the guest room, trying every method they could conjure up in an attempt to get all of his systems working again.

Compared to the insanely visible improvement of Henry's reconstruction it almost felt like nothing was happening. Not long ago every day some new surgery was happening and now every day it seemed less and less like Henry would be alive any time soon, even with all of the life support machines.

One evening it crushed down on Jasper, leaving him frozen in a ball while tears poured out of his eyes. Charlotte had sad by him, patting his head softly while claiming that they had "Gotten this far. We're not going to give up any time soon." But for some reason Jasper still couldn't settle. All he wanted was Henry.

Time continued to pass and there was still no progress until one afternoon when loud cheers disrupted Jasper's nap, forcing him to rise from the sofa to investigate. The cheers gradually became louder and louder as he passed through the halls until he reached the guest room door, the source of the noise. Just as he reached to slide open the door, however, someone else beat him to it and Charlotte's face was revealed. Without warning, she pulled him into a tight squeeze, shook him around a bit and suddenly let go. In shock Jasper almost collapsed onto the ground though just before he it the floor Charlotte grabbed his arm and dragged him to Henry's bed.

As soon as Jasper's eyes hit the scene he felt his knees buckle.

A monitor was set up next to Henry. A green line on the screen peaked every second with an electronic beep accompanying it. Henry's heart was beating.

Henry was alive.

Tears welled in his eyes while indescribable emotions rose in his chest, sending his heart racing and leaving his muscles frozen as he simply stared at the screen, a grin plastered on his face. As soon as his muscles agreed to work once again he pulled Charlotte back against him and felt her chest from laughter while their shoulders were soaked with each others tears.

"What's with all of the noise!? Shut up, I'm trying to take a relaxing sho-"

Ray burst into the room, though he stopped his yell as he glanced around, frozen in nothing but an old dressing gown with shampoo still visible in his drenched hair. His eyes flicked over the room and landed on the screen displaying Henry's heart beat. His face split into a grin.

"Oh my god! You guys did it!" Half leaping, he ran towards the embracing pair and joined in, throwing his arms over their shoulders violently and pulling them into his chest.

"Nah, those guys did." Charlotte gestured to the scientists and surgeons in the room.

Each person seemed to be the physical embodiment of exhaustion with eye bags that were only a couple of shades away from black and heavy eyelids that shielded their eyes. Even so, they grinned and continued with their excited chatter, the moment pushing them through their tiredness.

Jasper wriggled free from the very wet Ray Manchester and faced Henry's bed for a moment before inhaling deeply and taking a step towards It. His eyes trailed along the man, lost in awe at the sight.

Thanks to the heart moving the settled blood back around his body, Henry's skin tone had already began to even out, making him look less like a patchy ghost and more like the man he was a year ago. Even with the stitches that covered every inch of his body and the numerous tubes protruding from every free patch of skin and every orifice, everything about him just seemed less gruesome than before. Henry looked human.

Jasper's eyes travelled to the man's chest, each eye widening as they fixated on the rise and fall of the flesh. The rhythmic movement sent chills down his spine as It really hit him exactly what it meant. Henry was fucking alive. A real, alive human, not just a dead corpse like last time. Sure, his brain was dead but it was still something. More tears ran down his face, this time ugly sobs with a euphoric grin as another wave of overpowering emotions hit him with each movement of his friends chest.

Without really realising it Jasper's hand drifted over to Henry where it hovered for a moment. Jasper half expected to be hit with a wave of cold like last time but as soon as he pressed his hand against the skin a faint warmth greeted him. Jasper leaned into the heat, feeling it spread up his body and reach his own chest. The pulse of Henry's heart could be felt just under Jasper's hand, the artificial object spreading life throughout his body. Even with the sensation of the heart beat he found himself needing more signs he was really alive and crouched down, letting his head hit the spot his hand had previously rested. Sighing slightly, he listened to the faint sound that pulsed against his ear as the heat from Jasper's heart spread to his cheeks.

"How does he feel?" Ray approached the bed, tightening his dressing gown belt as his steps came to a halt.

Jasper kept his head on Henry's chest for one last moment before lifting it and facing Ray with a bright smile. "Alive."

A smile was shot back at him and Ray reached for Henry's hand, his breath hitching a little when he felt his pulse.

"Sweet Jesus." He mumbled as he attempted to stop his eyes watering through abnormal hand waving.

Jasper let out a soft hum in agreement and let his head fall against Henry once again, this time wrapping his arms around the man.

Just as he felt himself start to slip away Schwoz ran into the room, bottles of champagne bundled up in each arm that he waved around insanely. It was impressive that hasn't dropped them yet, Jasper thought.

"Come on! I have more! Let's celebrate!" He yelled before running out of the room, sending the others following after him in a trail of excite chatter.

xxx

"To Henry and to everyone that helped!" Ray shouted as he raised a glass. Everyone else followed and the sound of clinking glasses and laughter filled the air as grins spread across faces.

The champagne intake quickly increased as the afternoon became the evening. The handful of people no longer needed in the man cave shared their goodbyes while others drunkenly celebrated the history that they had made that day.

Jasper fluttered from person to person like the rest of the crowd, listening to the stories and laughter of all the strangers he had lived with for months but had never gotten to know. Honestly, he didn't know half of their names and a pang of regret stabbed at his stomach as he hit it off with people he would never see again. Still, he carried on smiling. After all, Henry was alive. He promised himself he'd actually talk to the few scientists who were staying and continued with the night.

At one point Ellis pulled him aside, said her goodbyes and wished him luck with Henry. By then he was pretty far into the champagne so he couldn't be one hundred percent sure, but he could have sworn she threw a wink in when she said that.

Over time the party got smaller. The exhaustion of the team finally hit them and sent them disappearing from the party only to collapse in their sleeping bags and pass out. Eventually, only a handful of people remained, all of which apart from Ray and Charlotte were extremely intoxicated and embarrassing themselves. Ray, who wasn't effected by alcohol, was making up for it by violently flirting with a scientist while Charlotte sat on the sofa on her own, watching the party with an amused grin.

"Hey, Char." Jasper called over as he plopped onto the sofa next to her. Or at least, he attempted to. In a drunken daze he managed to misjudge the distance and he instead fell onto the floor where he lay in a heap of giggles.

"Oh my god." Rolling her eyes, Charlotte burried her face into her palms before extending her arm and helping him up.

"You're a party pooper." Jasper puffed his cheeks, only increasing the volume of Charlotte's sighs.

"Well maybe some of us like having full control of their actions." Her mock anger quickly melted down, though, into a simple smile. "Money's getting pretty tight now, though. There are a lot more important things to spend it on than a stupid amount of bad champagne."

"Yeah, but Henry's alive! We need to celebrate!"

"Yeah, but I wish we just brought a couple of big bags of one dollar nachos and watched a movie or something. That would be a LOT cheaper." Charlotte picked up her glass and took a sip before placing it back down on the floor. "At this rate we're gonna be broke in a few months."

Jasper looked at the floor and thought for a moment. Suddenly he looked up with bright eyes as an idea hit him. "What about Junk-n-stuff? Can't we start that up again?"

Charlotte laughed. "The money from that would barely be enough to cover our electric bill, which is insanely big by the way." She stretched back and stared at the ceiling, watching Schwoz's stupid disco lights flicker on the ceiling. "Seriously though, if Ray doesn't start being Captain Man again I may as well just do it for him."

Jasper looked at her as he pondered the idea. The longer he thought about it the better it seemed: Charlotte would make a really good superhero. "...So why don't you?"

The woman waved her hands, dismissing his words. "I tried it before and I hated it. Ray's getting a bit more mentally stable, maybe he'll start being Captain Man again." She paused. "I don't think Henry is ever going to be Kid Danger again, though."

"What?"

Staring at the floor solemnly, she began to fiddle with a lose string on her top. "Even if Schwoz's machine does work perfectly there's going to be a little damage." She took another sip from her drink. "He's probably going to some issues with controlling his muscles. Plus he's going to need pretty regular surgery for the rest of his life."

For some reason Jasper had never really thought about that before. There was a very slim chance Henry would be in perfect condition after everything.

"It's better than being dead, though." Sighing, Charlotte clicked wrists, making jasper wince at the noise.

"We're gonna be like..." Jasper hiccupped, interrupting his own sentence. "...The three musketeers!"

"Yeah I'm not calling myself that." A giggle escaped Charlotte's lips. "But yeah, it's gonna be us three again."

Jasper nodded and hiccupped again while pulling on a strand of his hair. "I think I might curl my hair later."

"No!" Charlotte burst into laughter and guided Jasper's hand away from his hair, earning herself a confused look. "Wait until tomorrow, okay? Those burns were NOT pretty the last time you tried."

He stuck out his bottom lip and the two continued to talk for a little while, soaking up the lights and drunken chatter of the party that surrounded them.

xxx

Slowly, Jasper slid open the door to Henry's, trying not to wake anybody up as every noise he made seemed to become a million times louder than usual. The party had ended a few hours ago and everybody else was fast asleep in their beds but Jasper couldn't sleep. It was different to the insomnia that had plagued him before, however. This time he was just too excited about Henry.

Tiptoeing, he made his way across the floor and perched himself on the end of Henry's bed, holding his breath a little as the mattress creaked as it took his weight. His head felt fuzzy and he could faintly taste vomit that was threatening to rise. Perhaps he had gotten a little carried away with the amount he drank. Still, he didn't care. Henry was alive and there was no way in hell he wasn't going to celebrate.

A sigh escaped from his lips as he glanced over at Henry. He really was beautiful; Sharp jawline, arched brows, full lips... The longer he stared the more and wanted to lean down and just-

Jasper shook his head and grabbed onto his shirt, pushing away the thoughts in his head while mentally scolding himself.

Stretching out, he let his back fall against the mattress next to Henry. His head rested in the crook of the man's neck while absorbing the man's warmth. Jasper knew this was probably weird but he was so drunk he didn't care anymore. All he wanted was to be near the man. He draped an arm over his childhood friend's chest while his mind flicked through their past together.

When he was younger Jasper had slept over Henry's house more times than he could count. In fact, probably around a fifth of his nights had been spent at Henry's house, curled up next to his best friend. Every time Jasper's mother was cruel to him he'd run straight to Henry's house and be greeted with open arms, meaning that they had spent so much time together that it had gotten to the point where neither cared about personal space with each other anymore. Neither of them would admit it to anyone else but most of the sleepovers ended up with one of them clinging to the other like a heat seeking missile.

It was normal, it was just their friendship but Jasper felt guilty. He wasn't stupid, Jasper had known for years that he was gay and that it probably wasn't the best thing to mutually sleep cuddle with your best friend, even if it was entirely platonic.

It was definitely platonic.

He had absolutely never loved Henry.

Not even a crush.

Repeating this through his brain, he took another look at Henry but the rush of affection that attacked his chest as soon as he even glanced at the man smashed the words to pieces.

Jasper sighed.

He and Henry were going to stay good friends and he was never going to come out. Henry would get a nice girlfriend, maybe he'd even date Charlotte- They'd be a cute couple, and Jasper would force himself to date girls for the rest of his life to pretend he was straight. Maybe it would actually work this time. A pitiful laugh left his lips as he realised how much of a martyr complex he had, the fact the only other person in the room was his brain dead, barely alive friend made the situation even more pathetic.

But as long as Henry was alive and happy he would put up with anything.

Jasper would really do anything for Henry.

He pushed the thoughts out of his head and tried to focus on the room surrounding him instead but once again his mind kept flicking back to Henry. He couldn't stop imagining what the room would look like in a year.

Would it be full of life with clothes on the floor and miscellaneous trinkets every where?

Or would it be empty and derelict, a sad reminder of their attempt to bring the man back?

So many different futures flicked through his brain as he realised just how terrifying the future was.

Maybe Jasper would sit in this exact spot, a perfectly healthy Henry curled next to him and old films playing on an old TV. Even when they were adults with their own individual apartments they still spent the night at each others flats regularly so it wasn't that unlikely, right?

Or maybe Jasper would be sat next to a man living in agony, a man filled with resentment towards those who brought him back and trapped him in the pain.

"Stop being stupid." Jasper mumbled to himself as he tightened his embrace on Henry and attempted to push the thoughts out of his mind once again. This time he focused on the present: The heat the man radiated, the steady thump of the heart beat, the occasional noise of his stomach learning how to work again. Within minutes he slipped away, his consciousness lulled to the dream world where the future was definite and there was always a happy ending.

xxx

Ar around five in the morning Jasper snapped into consciousness at a strange sound. For a while he just stared into the darkness in a tired, confused daze as the hangover began to stab at his head, until his brain finally identified it.

It had been the door to the guest room shutting.

Faint footsteps travelled down the hall, the sound becoming increasingly more difficult to decipher the longer Jasper listened.

A soft smile rested on his Jasper's lips as he came to the conclusion it must have been Charlotte. Eager to greet her, he rose from the bed, felt around for the light switch and pulled open the door only to be greeted with nothingness.

Charlotte was no where to be found.

Assuming she had already some how made it back to her room, Jasper rubbed the back of his neck and swirled around to face Henry's room again.

Then he saw it.

A scratch ran along the floor from the door to Henry's bed. At about two centimetres deep and half a centimetre wide this wasn't a small mark from moving machines.

Jasper could have sworn it wasn't there earlier.

 **Finally things are getting more Hensperey in this fic!**

 **Yo follow my tumblr and my instagram Bigpoppajasper for Henry Danger fanart, headcanons and Hensper stuff in general!**


	8. The final step

**If you happen to notice any spelling mistakes, terrible grammar or words that were clearly autocorrected into something wrong then I would really appreciate you commenting the mistake so I can fix it!**

 **I do run my stuff through spellcheck and I proofread but I'm not very good at it tbh and the autocorrect on my phone is a bit off so I make a lot of mistakes when writing. I just want my writing to be as good as it possibly can be!**

"Have you even turned it on yet?" Schwoz shot a glare at Charlotte who was hunched over, fumbling with some wires while clearly not having any idea what she was doing.

A tall machine towered over the guest room, casting a shadow of an absurd silhouette over its contents. Strange mechanical things protruded from all angles, making the machine look awfully ominous for something that was supposed to save Henry's life. At the heart of the mess stood the Time Jerker's time machine, its rune engraved ring and flawless golden finish looking incredibly out of place against Schwoz's ugly yet practical handiwork.

"Nope, you haven't." He lent over Charlotte, connected a few wires and flicked a pair of switches. "Well done."

"Well, sorry." The woman snapped, her voice drenched in sarcasm. "It's not my machine. Why would I know how to use it!?"

Taking a step back, her eyes scanned over the machine, looking for any sign of change. After a few moments of nothing she opened her mouth to speak though Jasper stole the words away from her.

"Is it on?"

"Wait for it..." Slowly, Schwoz slid a lifeless looking mouse onto a table under the machine and placed the helmet over it, trapping it.

A few more seconds passed of nothing and then the machine burst into life.

Colours flooded the room, casting bright pattern over the walls while sudden flashes blinded the four. The machine trembled violently, sending the room vibrating with it while a horrible noise left the workers deaf.

At first the mouse only shook around under its helmet cage, visible thanks to a small window at the front of the helmet, and then it exploded.

"Jesus Christ, Schwoz!" Ray shouted, while Jasper let out a faint squeak in horror.

"Why did you do that!?" Charlotte flicked the same switches that Schwoz had minutes ago but the machine still continued to run. Groaning slightly, she crawled under it and ripped the plug out of the socket, letting out a satisfied hum as it died. "Poor mouse." She mumbled after getting back up and lifting the helmet.

Schwoz placed his finger on his chin and hummed in thought before jumping up as he identified his mistake. "Ah! I set it on level 25! It only needed to be on 5!" He let out a laugh, not thinking about how serious his mistake was.

Sighing, Charlotte buried her face into her palms. "Oh my God..."

"Schwoz, clean up the helmet and make sure it's on the right level!"

Intimidated by his boss's death glare, the man nodded shakily before doing as he was told. In only a few minutes, another mouse was being trapped under the machine's helmet which was now set to a level that wouldn't severely injure the poor creature.

Once again the machine lit up with violent colours and sounds, however this time the mouse stayed in one piece. As the machine came to a stop, the four gathered around the helmet, brows furrowed, only to see the mouse slowly wake up.

"Ta da!" Schwoz yelled, swinging out an arm as he lifted the helmet and picked up the mouse. "See! It was brain dead and now it is not!" He half-passed-half-threw the mouse at Jasper, who only barely managed to catch it and was cradling the shaking animal in his palms. "Now we will do it with Henry."

"Schwoz, I swear to God if this messes up you are DEAD." Ray moved towards Henry's bed and picked the man up, being careful not to disconnect any of the tubes and wires that let life flow through him, and placed him on the surface where the mouse had rested.

"First we strap him down." As he worked he described his actions, more to himself than the others though they leaned forward with focus anyway.

"Then we put the helmet on." Schwoz wiggled the helmet over Henry's head and, after adjusting it a few times, the machine started up.

The mouse in Jasper's palms panicked at the sudden overload of sensations from the machine and somehow wormed it's way into Jasper's hoodie in a desperate attempt to feel safe. Honestly, Jasper wanted to do the same; The fear of this going wrong left his heart racing and hands trembling as he stared at Henry's body. All he wanted to do was hide.

"Schwoz, how long is this going to take?" Ray tapped his foot.

"A few hours. He's got a bigger brain than a mouse."

Charlotte forced a smile, trying to thin the air. "Surprisingly."

The four continued to sit and stare at the machine, all far too anxious to leave the room for even a minute.

"How does this actually work?" Ray mumbled, his mouth covering his face as he propped up his head with his hand. He had spent the past hour led on the floor, trying to figure out how the machine worked out of boredom.

"It makes the time machine super precise and turns it into tiny microscopic lasers." Schwoz pointed lazily from the bed, gesturing to the parts of the machine. "The lasers hit each of Henry's brain cells and replace them with how they were a day before he died."

Ray nodded and the room fell back into the anxious silence.

Jerry, which is what Jasper decided to name the surviving mouse, had crawled up Jasper's hoodie and decided that his hood was the perfect place to curl up and sleep the hours away.

At least one of the pair was peaceful.

Finally, the hours passed and the machine slowly died down. Schwoz gently pulled the helmet away from Henry's head, his blonde hair spilling out and sticking up in all angles from the static. With the help of Ray, they dragged him up and placed him back onto his bed.

"So is it done now? Is Henry properly alive again?" Jasper ran his hands through Henry's hair, combing it with his fingers in an attempt to fix it.

"We won't know for a little while." Charlotte replied while unplugging the machine once again. "We have to do three more rounds anyway, so even if it has worked there's no way all of the cells are alive again."

"His brain must be kind of a mess right now, huh?" Ray lifted up his arms and stretched before noticing the mouse which still rested in Jasper's hood. "You've still got that thing?"

Jasper reached into his hood and picked up the mouse with both hands, being careful not to squeeze it. "Yep! I named him Jerry! Look how cute he is!" He shoved the mouse inches away from Ray's face, sending the man jumping back in shock.

Ray groaned. "I said no pets in the Man Cave."

"Oh come on, Ray." Charlotte leant over and pet the mouse gently. "Schwoz has a pig."

"B-But... He... I-It..." The man stammered before giving in. "Dah! Alright, fine. Jasper gets to keep his stupid mouse."

xxx

Over the next week Henry went through three more rounds on the machine. Immediately after the final round the four watched Henry 24/7, waiting for a sign that his brain cells were working. However, weeks turned into a month and the man still did nothing, giving no hint of any brain activity. As time moved on they stopped monitoring so closely constantly, instead deciding to test him every few days.

Jasper was the only one who refused to leave the man's side. He'd spend his nights staring at the man, looking out for the slightest flutter of an eyelash or twitch of a finger.

It has gotten to the point that he hadn't left the guest room for weeks for anything other than to use the bathroom or shower. Caring for Jerry was the only thing that kept the man somewhat sane thanks to the responsibility forcing him into a sort of schedule, though Jasper was still losing it. Sometimes he could almost swear another person was in the room, watching him with unwavering eyes and creeping around whenever he wasn't looking.

"It's just from the lack of sleep." He would tell himself, though he honestly wasn't sure anymore.

A few times a day, Charlotte would bring him food and water while either Schwoz or Ray would pop in for a chat. Though the conversations were always awkward, filled with sympathetic glances out of the corners of their eyes as they tried to convince Jasper to leave. There was no way he could do that, though. Jasper couldn't leave Henry.

Maybe if he stared strongly enough Henry would sense it and move.

Maybe if he prayed hard enough to some unspecified deity then they'd force Henry to give him a sign, any sign.

It was dumb but it was all he could do.

At this point he knew the guest room like the back of his hand. Every little thing about it was permanently etched into his mind- From the dust and fluff that settled in the corner of the room to the exact shape of the scratch that had appeared that one night.

Jasper knew it wasn't healthy but he just couldn't bring himself to leave.

xxx

Two months of this passed and Jasper sat how he was always sat: On a chair next to Henry's bed with Jerry on his lap and his eyes scanning the man for any sudden changes.

A soft knock echoed throughout the room, snapping Jasper back into reality. Seconds later, the door slid open and his co-workers slowly pooled into the room with their usual sympathetic looks painted on their faces.

"Hey." Ray set his hand on Jasper's shoulder as he muttered the word.

"What?" Jasper shot an undecipherable look back in response.

The three exchanged glances, all begging the others to take the job instead of them, until Charlotte inhaled sharply and approached Jasper. The other two sighed in relief.

"Look. It's been a while now and Henry's still showing no signs of any brain activity and just..." She trailed off, refusing to look Jasper in the eyes as she tried to figure out what to say next. "...We don't know if it worked."

Jasper caught her eye with an empty stare before they filled with rage. "You're just giving up?"

"No. Just prepare yourself for the worst, okay?"

Schwoz moved over to Henry, pulled open the man's eye and lightly dragged a cotton bud across the cornea, staring intensely for a response and sighing when there was none. "See, there is still no sign. We will do some more rounds if there are no signs in a week but if there are still no signs after that then..." The man bit his lip. "It may be impossible."

The words tore through Jasper's chest like a bullet yet no matter how much he wanted them, no tears came. Instead he just sat there, frozen with wide eyes as he found himself unable to protest.

"Are you sure we're not just testing it wrong? There's gotta be a scan or something." Ray reacted in Jasper's place, falling on to the bed and grabbing Henry's palm.

Charlotte shook her head. "There is, the EEG, but we can't afford it. It is NOT a cheap machine."

Jasper snapped out of his daze. "Steal one."

Everyone's eyes turned towards him, mouths hanging open slightly at the out of character words he had spoken.

Charlotte was the first to react. "Jasper! You can't just steal one, someone needs that!"

"But we need it too. We can return it after and they probably have a few at the hospital anyway."

She opened her mouth to protest but no words came out. After a few seconds she turned to her boss. "Ray?"

"Lets do it." He nodded slightly. "For Henry."

xxx

"Oh! My stomach!" Jasper called out, hunching over dramatically while forcing himself to tremble. "It hurts so bad!"

Charlotte patted the man's back, rolling her eyes as she forced monotone words out of her mouth. "Just a little longer, Jasper."

Ray wrapped his arm around Jasper and moved his face next to his co-worker's. To anyone else this would have looked like a comforting gesture, but the reality was far from it. "Tone it down a little, it looks too fake."

The moon was glowing, the stars were twinkling and it was a lovely evening for the three to be sat in AE, soaking up the fluorescent lighting and the overpowering scent of bleach. Unfortunately, Jasper had come down ever so suddenly with an extremely horrific illness:

Stomach-totallynotmadeuptoaneegscannner-itus.

The benches squeaked as Ray and Jasper shifted, trying to find a semi-comfortable position on the cold, plastic seats. Charlotte sat completely still, her only movement being her eyes which trailed over every now and then to two nurses lost in a chat near the toilets.

After what felt like hours, the women left, and Charlotte slowly rose out of her seat, stretching out in the process. "I'm gonna go to the toilet." She announced, shooting a tired wink before turning to start the plan.

Charlotte stepped into a cubicle, letting the door swing shut behind her as she pulled off her jumper, trying to avoid the puddles of god knows what on the floor. As she squirmed out of the layers another outfit was revealed:

A perfect doctors uniform.

Her eyes scanned the cubicle, searching for a place to dispose of her old clothes. After wrapping them in multiple layers of toilet roll, she forced open the tampon bin and shoved them inside, praying that the cleaners would be as disgusted of the bins contents as she was so they wouldn't actually look inside.

After aggressively scrubbing her hands she left, fleeing to the halls.

For a little while she simply wandered the corridors, blindly following their lead, until she came across a large door in a derelict hallway. A plastic sign rested on the door, announcing that this was the right place.

She had found the main storage area.

Every single piece of hospital equipment you could imagine was hidden somewhere behind that door. From crutches to pillows to obscure drugs... The brain scanner was definitely here.

Charlotte wanted nothing more than to go in, take it and leave, but she couldn't just leave Ray and Jasper sitting in AE forever. Honestly it would have been easier for her to have come alone. In fact, there was no real reason for them to tag along. However, they had insisted and Charlotte decided some company wouldn't be that bad.

Sighing, the woman turned around and began to search for an empty examination room, mentally mapping out the hospital ground floor as she walked.

After a few minutes she found one and, being careful to hide her actions from the patients and staff that constantly flowed through the hall, she pulled a bobby pin from her hair and wiggled it around in the lock. Once the pins inside were aligned, she turned them, locking the door shut. Just to make it even more secure, she jammed the Bobby pin inside, leaving the lock completely unusable. Perhaps it was unnecessary, but it was easier to take an extra step to keep the room free than to come back with Ray and Jasper and have to find another room. They'd just blast the door open later, anyway.

Finished with her tasks, she crept back to AE.

"Hello, Mr Dunlop?" Charlotte approached Jasper, who let out a sigh of relief as their eyes met. "Would you follow me?"

Nodding over enthusiastically, the pair stood up and let her lead the way to the room.

Ray placed his hand on the door handle and pulled it, letting out a groan as it refused to budge.

"It's locked." Charlotte rested her palm on his shoulder. "You're gonna need to break it open."

The ex-superhero discreetly pulled out a blaster that had been concealed in his pocket and aimed it at the door, his hands steady as a he pulled the trigger. A bang filled the corridor, though no one seemed to notice. The doctors were far too stressed to even process the noise while the patients were to absorbed in their misery. With a clatter, the lock fell to the floor.

"Quick, get in." Charlotte beckoned the others into the room and slammed the door shut. "Nobody better have heard that."

"Well no one looked." Jasper collapsed onto the cold seat/bed/bench birthchild in the room and stifled a yawn.

"Ray, get changed in case someone else comes in."

"Oh, yeah." At Charlotte's word, the man pulled off his clothes to show off a doctor's outfit, exactly like Charlotte's. He fiddled with the edge with an impressed look on his face. "Wow. You did a great job making these, Jasper."

Jasper laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Thanks! It's no big deal, though!"

"No seriously, your stitching is incredible."

"Focus!" Rolling her eyes, Charlotte picked Ray's clothes off of the floor and shoved them into Jasper's backpack before turning to face the pair. "I'm gonna go get the scanner now. Stay here and pretend to be giving him an examination if anyone comes in, okay?" I'll beep you if I need backup."

"Alright." Ray nodded before jolting up suddenly and rummaging through Jasper's backpack, brows furrowed as he digged into the pocket of his jeans. His eyes lit up and he pulled the blaster out of the pocket, waving it around in the air. "Take this. Just in case." He said, handing the blaster to the woman.

"Thanks." She shoved the blaster into her own pocket before sighing. "Do I really need to do this? You ARE indestructible."

"Yeah, but you're smaller and faster so you can sneak around easier. Now go on, shoo"

Groaning, Charlotte pulled open the door and stepped outside, leaving the men behind.

She followed the map she had made in her head, praying that her memory wasn't lying to her as she stormed through the halls. Every step she took was rushed, trying to blend in with the stressed doctors that surrounded her. Eventually, the people thinned out and she reached the derelict hall once again.

A doctor sat against the door, stuffing her face with a sandwich she held in one hand while scrolling through her phone with the other. Charlotte jumped behind a wall as soon as her brain registered her, silently cursing at the thud her feet gave out while hitting the ground. The doctor only gave a half hearted glance, though, before turning her attention back to her phone. Peaking her head around the corner, Charlotte looked at the woman with tight lips while conjuring up ways to free the passage to the door.

Then her eyes trailed over a small device hung next to the door that she hadn't noticed earlier: An ID scanner. Charlotte would need a working ID card to get in.

Suddenly, the woman's presence went from being bad luck to good.

Being careful to not make a sound, Charlotte reached into her back pocket and pulled out the blaster, switching it onto the knockout ray, before jumping into the hall and shooting it at the woman.

Or at least that's what it was supposed to do. Instead, there was nothing.

She pulled the trigger once again, silently begging for it to work, yet once again nothing happened.

For a few moments the doctor stared at her with wide eyes and an open mouth before her sandwich slipped out of her palms and she leapt up. An ear piercing scream echoed throughout the hall as she began to sprint away.

Charlotte jumped onto her back, holding on for dear life as the doctor twisted and turned with one arm and reaching for the woman's ID card with the other. "Got it!" Charlotte mumbled as she pulled the ID off of her shirt and leapt back to the ground, letting the doctor flee, screaming for security.

xxx

At the other end of the building an alarm began to wail, sending Ray and Jasper flying a metre into the air in shock.

"Do you think they found her?" Jasper looked up at the flashing light on the ceiling while shielding his ears from the horrific noise.

"They better not have." Ray did the same, squinting slightly.

"Should we g-"

The door burst open, interrupting Jasper mid word.

"Can't you hear the siren? Get ou-" A nurse yelled before stopping as his eyes met Ray's. "...Who are you?"

Ray flashed his ID at the doctor and bowed deeply, a playful grin on his face. "Dr. Rhys Nicolson at your service."

The nurse continued to stare at him, lost in thought, before shaking is head. "I've never heard of you."

"Well, isn't that a bummer." Ray moved towards the man, leaving only mere inches between them while staring down at him. "I do a lot around here, you know."

"There has been an issue with an ID card being stolen by presumably someone pretending to be staff so I'm going to need you to prove it then." The nurse pulled Ray's ID off his shirt and swiftly turned towards the computer. "I'm sure that won't be an issue, Doctor." He waved it in front of a scanner near the screen and waited for it to respond yet nothing happened.

"Fake, I knew it!" The man grabbed Ray's arm and attempted to drag him out of the room though Ray stayed completely put.

Ray shot a venomous glare at the man while the nurse tightened his fists.

xxx

Meanwhile, Charlotte pressed the stolen ID against the scanner, letting out a sigh of relief when the machine accepted it. She pushed the door open and stepped inside as the door slammed behind her.

At this point they already knew she was here, there was no point in her hiding it anymore.

As if in response to her thoughts, a siren began to howl and a flashing light drenched the room in red.

Charlotte ran through the labyrinth, rummaging through equipment after equipment. Wheelchairs , IVs, cupboards full of surgical knives; It seemed like everything except for the machine she needed rested on the shelves around her.

Then she caught a glimpse of the machine out of the corner of her eye. It taunted her from the middle shelf and drew her closer.

She wormed her fingers underneath it and pulled, though the second it even slightly lifted from the surface it came crashing back down. Realising that there was no way in hell she was going to be able to carry it, she let out a sigh and scanned the room until the image of the wheelchair popped into her mind.

A few seconds later Charlotte was running through the halls, pushing a wheelchair with the EEG on in one hand and awkwardly pulling a ski mask over her face with the other. Concerned glances and shouts were shot at her from hospital staff at every twist and turn yet she only ignored them, continuing to move forward.

Eventually, she pushed open a door to find Ray holding a nurse in a headlock and Jasper sprawled out on the chair, watching from afar.

"Come on!" Charlotte called, grabbing the man's arm and trying to pull him away from the nurse and towards the door.

"Hang on." Ray shook away her away her arm and threw the man into the wall before dusting off his shoulders. "Okay, let's go."

The trio ran out of the hospital entrance and leapt into the Man Van that was pulled into the drop off lay by, watching the people that had been chasing them seconds ago stand and stare.

"Drive!" Ray yelled while trying to unfold the wheelchair that left him and Charlotte squished against the seats in the back of the van.

With that, Schwoz slammed the acceleration and sped away. "So..." The man began, acting as if they hasn't just committed a robbery, impersonated doctors and assaulted two people. "How did it go?"

"Ray felt the need to beat up an innocent nurse." Charlotte snatched the wheelchair from Ray, pushed the EEG onto his lap, and folded the wheelchair up in a few seconds, causing Ray to shoot her an embarrassed glare.

"He was a dick." He sighed, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.

"He was just being a good person and trying to stop a criminal from getting away..." Jasper picked up his mouse from the dashboard and cradled it in his palms as he watched the hospital roll out of sight. For someone who had just tagged along in a robbery, he wasn't the slightest bit phased.

After all, it was for Henry.

xxx

The sun began to rise over Swellview, enveloping it in a soft light as a new day began.

A line on an EEG squiggled ever so slightly. The impossible had happened:

Henry, and Henry's brain, was alive.

 **Tbh idk why I even put Jerry in. It wasn't planned it just kinda happened but hey I'll roll with it I guess.**

 **I know that the whole hospital part is terrible and out of place but I put it in bc it's slightly more like the canon show rather than sad dialogue like my fic normally is and bc it's out of my comfort zone.**

 **There isnt much Hensper in this chapter but Henry is actually properly alive so I hope that kind of makes up for it.**

 **Please follow my tumblr and instagram Bigpoppajasper for fanart and dumb Henry Danger stuff in general!**


	9. Golden specks in brown eyes

**It's been a while since I've updated, im so sorry! I've been really struggling with motivation tbh and my lack of confidence when it comes to my writing has only gotten worse.**

Jasper let out a gentle sigh as he curled up in his chair. The faint hum of a machine filled the guest room as Henry's chest rose and fell under the warm light.

Once again he sat in the chair pulled up against Henry's bed, completely alone apart from the unconscious man himself. The news that Henry was no longer brain dead seemed to change Jasper's visits to the man. Instead of staring at Henry with tears in his eyes as some sort of self inflicted torture and desperation, there was warmth. It was really the only way Jasper could describe it. Everything seemed to emit a certain warmth to it and Jasper adored it.

Another content sigh escaped from his lips and he looked down at Henry, smiling softly at the sight.

Little by little, the scars that once coated him had faded. Each wound melted into the skin around it, leaving faint river like dips and small mountain ranges in their place. Jasper trailed the marks with his eyes, welcoming the warmth that flooded to his heart as he saw how well the man had healed. It was so insanely beautiful.

Ever so gently, he entwined his fingers with Henry's and let his smile widen as once again, he was greeted by a rush of heat spreading onto his skin.

Then Henry's hand moved.

It wasn't much. In fact, nothing more than an ever so slight twitch of a palm and stretch of a finger that under any other circumstance, Jasper wouldn't have noticed. But this was no ordinary circumstance. After a few seconds frozen, the man jolted back, half throwing Henry's hand away from him in absolute shock.

Slowly, he edged forward again. Each eye scanned over Henry's body, alert as they waited for the slightest twitch. Then once again, the sleeping man moved his finger.

"Oh my god." Jasper gasped, gripping onto the mattress while edging closer to Henry, a wide smile splitting on his face.

Over the next two minutes Henry moved more than he had in over a year. Henry's hand twitched again. Then again. Then his eyelash fluttered, and then his hand twitched once more.

Jasper continued to stare in a joyful daze before a rush of realisation hit him. In a matter of seconds, he leapt up and dashed out of the room. Rhythmic footsteps echoed through the hallway as he sped, each thud accompanied by the man's cries for Charlotte.

He burst through the door and practically leapt at her, ending her order for the autosnacker mid word.

"What, Jasper?" She moaned as she regained her composure, watching with a raised brow at the man who was bobbing on the spot in front of her.

"Guess what, guess what, guess what, guess what!?" His bobbing, along with his voice, became more violent as he spoke, the bobs turning more into leaps.

The woman placed her hand on her hip and simply repeated the words from before. "What, Jasper?"

"Henry moved!"

Every ounce of sarcasm and annoyance that had filled Charlotte seconds ago vanished into thin air as soon as the words left Jasper's mouth.

"He moved? Properly moved?" Her hands fell to her sides.

"Yeah, his hands moved and eye twitched!"

Slowly, Charlotte's mouth morphed into a grin that almost rivalled Jasper's for size.

Before Jasper even had a chance to react, she pulled the man against her and squeezed tightly, laughing softly as he let out a soft "Oomph."

"That's amazing." Eventually, she released her grip, leaving Jasper rubbing his arms from the surprising amount of strength she had hugged him with. "We've done it." The woman shook her head in disbelief, though her smile didn't falter one bit.

"Really?"

Charlotte nodded and they exchanged smiles before the woman suddenly jumped up in remembrance.

"Oh, right. Ray's about to leave so you should go wish him luck."

A week ago, Jasper and Ray had been in the middle of cleaning out Jerry's cage when Charlotte burst through the doors and loudly announced that they were "Officially broke." After checking on Jasper's foot which had been crushed thanks to the volume of Charlotte's voice sending the cage dropping right out of Ray's arm and into it, it became clear that Captain Man was their only hope. Only the bounty money, donations and merchandise the hero brought in was enough to keep them afloat.

So as the pair entered their bosses bedroom, they came face to face with Ray, eyes locked on the mirror as they stared daggers at the costume he wore.

All of the times he had used this alter ego throughout the past year flicked through Ray's head: Picking up women to fuel his sex addiction, murdering out of revenge, stealing Henry's dead corpse...

It really was only a costume now.

"I don't like it." Ray pulled at his sleeve, glaring at his reflection.

"Why not?" Jasper stepped next to the man and rested his elbow on his boss's shoulder.

"It feels..." He waved his hand around as he searched for the word. "Bad. Weird. Wrong." Adjectives spilled out of his mouth before he let out a sigh. "Kid should be fighting crime with me."

Charlotte sighed and gently raised her palm onto Ray's other shoulder. "Look. I know you don't want to do this and I know it feels weird but It's for Henry." She tightened her hand's grip. "When we get our bills we're not going to be able to pay them back. How are we supposed to look after Henry if we have no water, electricity, gas?"

Ray nodded and turned his head to the floor.

"I've even found the exact location of the criminal. Just go there, fight some crime and get the guy arrested."

Ray stared at Charlotte for a moment, face solemn, before he broke out into a grin. "Alright, yeah! You know what, I'm Captain Man, protector of Swellview!" Ray placed his hand onto his hip and spun around. "And I'm going to go punch that jerk right in the face!"

Captain Man matched out of the room, lept to the spot under the tube, and stared up to the abyss above. With three words, air rushed through the glass enclosure and lifted him out of sight.

The glass returned to the way it had before and emptiness filled the space Ray had once stood. Pride on behalf of his boss filled Jasper's chest as he brought his hand to his chest. Absentmindedly, his eyes trailed towards his other co-workers, ready to let out the burst of emotion on them, only to find the pair walking away.

He lowered his eyes and watched their feet grow further and further away as they left him alone. A sigh escaped his lips before he brushed it off.

They were scientists. The pair most likely had something scientific to discuss that would only confuse Jasper.

Inhaling deeply, the man wandered back to his room. It wasn't like he had anything else to do.

xxx

Hours went by and Jasper remained completely alone. Jerry was his only company, the mouse taking to Jasper's lap as the perfect place to play.

Eventually, the metal clank of the door sliding open sent Jerry scurrying to the darkness under Jasper's bed for comfort.

"Shit, sorry. Do you want me to get him out?" Ray lent his weight against the door frame while glancing at Jerry's hiding place.

"Nah." Jasper waved his hand, dismissing his boss's words. "Just close the door so he doesn't get out."

Nodding slightly, Ray took a step forward and slid the door shut.

"How was it?"

Ray stretched his arms out above his head and plopped onto the floor next to his co-worker, his body thudding as it hit the ground. "It was alright." He gestured, spreading out his legs. "Some people were a bit suspicious after the whole Angel thing but it went alright. The guy was easy to stop, too."

"Huh. I guess this is Swellview."

"True."

A soft laugh fell from Ray's lips and

Jasper could only stare at how calmer his boss seemed to usual. The hero extended his fingers and lent into the floor, almost as if he was embracing the world around him. Jasper supposed that's what happened when a hero was put back into his element.

"Hey, has Henry moved again?"

The man shook his head. "Not since earlier. I've mostly been in here though so he might have when I wasn't there."

"Oh." Ray yawned. "Still, Jesus the Kid actually moved. I guess this really worked, huh."

With a wide grin, Jasper nodded gently and the room fell into a silence. Though it wasn't the least bit uncomfortable.

It stayed that way for a little while. For some reason neither man felt the need to spoke and they simply enjoyed the hum of the pipes in the walls and the scuttle of Jerry under Jasper's bed.

"I've been wondering this for a while but was there something going on between you guys?" Ray's words smashed the silence.

Immediately, Jasper glanced up, a confused expression beaming off of his face. "What?"

"You two spent so much time together and shit." The older man rubbed the back of his neck, wearing sheepish grin. "And he was going to quit being my sidekick for you. It looked like a LITTLE more than friends."

Crimson flushed Jasper's cheeks and the man waved his hands in front of his face dismissively, though the sudden tremble in his hands contradicted this. With a slight stutter, he coughed out his default line for situations like this. "We were just good friends."

Ray simply stared at his employee, a single eyebrow raised.

Jasper let out a sigh. "Henry helped me through a lot of stuff. I guess it just made us close."

"...You went through stuff?" Ray's eyebrow somehow raised further, at this point dangerously close to flying right off his forehead.

Beads of sweat formed on Jasper's face while he shuffled in his seat. "My mom wasn't a nice person." Words were spoken hesitantly, slowly being spilled out to someone he never thought he'd talk to about this. "She, uh... controlled me. And neglected me." A grim smile fell to his lips but fell away with his next words. "Henry would always give me somewhere to stay and he'd talk to me and just... Make everything seem okay. It made us closer than most friends."

"Huh." Ray bit his lip and stared at the floor.

Smog seemed to replace the air in the room, suffocating the pair.

"Sorry. That got really dark." A forced laugh echoed throughout the room but Ray's face refused to lighten.

Instead, his brows only furrowed. "No Jasper I-" The man released a sigh and jumped into corny superhero mode, dramatically announcing every word. "You see, I too had a horrible parent." Ray brought his fist to his heart. "My dad neglected me, ignored me, didn't care about me, and then as soon as I got powers suddenly he wanted to control me and hurt me... and hurt me..."

The facade slowly slipped away and Ray Manchester was revealed once again;

Terrified, vulnerable, and completely broken beyond repair.

In that instant some unspoken bond, some mutual understanding spread between the pair.

"Ah, that's not the point." The hero waved his hands in front of him. "I just relate, that's all."

"Do you ever talk to him now?"

He shook his head. "He's dead."

"Ahh..." The younger man bit his lip and shuffled. "I'm sorry."

"Nah, don't be." Ray only smiled. "He was an ass anyway."

"Still..." Jasper stretched out onto the floor, letting his fingertips graze against the wooden floorboards. "I guess I was lucky to have Henry then."

"You're unlucky enough to have that bitch as your mom in the first place." Ray propped himself up with his elbow. "But does he know how much he helped?"

"Yeah." A soft warmth emitted from the younger man's smile. "He helped you too though, right? Charlotte said. Does he know that?"

Solemnly, Ray's eyes drifted away, avoiding eye contact, before closing slowly. "I guess I should. ...He's pretty much my brother at this point."

"Tell him when he wakes up." Jasper smiled.

"I will." He muttered, returning the gesture.

xxx

Time continued to trudge further and Henry seemed to be moving more and more every week. Sometime after the first movement, Schwoz and Charlotte, without mentioning it to Jasper, decided that Henry was officially in a vegetative state. Even though Jasper had to admit he wasn't entirely sure what it 'vegetative' meant, he was happy. After all, Henry was almost awake.

Then he did.

The first time it happened Jasper could have sworn he had a heart attack. One moment Henry was lying down as usual, eyes shut and sleeping peacefully, and the next moment his eyes were wide awake- Two brown orbs glistening under the soft light of the lamp.

Jasper clutched his white knuckled fist to his chest and found himself unable to move. All he could do was stare at the eyes in compete awe, his mouth hanging open as he admired the golden flecks hidden in the brown.

Still, something was off about them. Something about them seemed almost cloudy, as if they weren't looking at anything in particular.

Pushing back the storm of emotions attacking his heart, Jasper waved his hand in front of the man's eyes and lent down, studying for a response, though there was none. Unlike Jasper's eyes which seemed to dart around erratically, they were completely still.

For a brief moment there was a tinge od disappointment, but he pushed it away in seconds. Henry was awake.

It happened over and over again, dragging into some endless cycle of Henry waking up only to fall right back to sleep a few seconds later.

Every single time Jasper would run to Charlotte, eyes wide and grin wider, gushing out the news while she smiled gently and laughed softly at the news.

One morning Charlotte had called a "family meeting" and sat everyone down on the man cave sofa to announce they were switching off Henry's life support.

So with that they gathered around the man, eyes anxiously locked onto the heartbeat meter, dreading the line to go flat and for the deafening tone to fill the room.

However, it didn't and Henry kept living.

xxx

A week passed of Henry living completely by himself apart from a ventilator and, after a slight decline right after most machines were turned off, he seemed to become more and more active as every hour went by. The cycle spun out of control, with hardly a day passing without him waking up, each time for longer and longer.

Another fortnight flew by and then the cycle came to a halt.

The dim glow of the lamp illuminated Henry, casting shadows over his hospital gown and defining the scars that coated him. His chest rose and fell with each assisted breath, disrupting the glow of light.

A YouTube video played on Jasper's phone, the man curled up in the chair next to Henry's, lost in the comforting sensation that filled the air. The video ended and he placed be phone in his pocket before looking down at the man, humming a tune under his breath.

Once again, Henry's eyes were wide open. The word incredible ran through Jasper's mind, blocking out any other thought as a giddiness rushed to his heart. Though he couldn't quite shake off the feeling that something was different than before.

He raise his arms above his head and stretched out only to pull away immediately. Out of the corner of his eye he had seen it: Henry's eye had followed him.

Heart speeding up, he lent towards Henry and once again, the blonde's eye followed him, sharp and focused instead of clouded by haziness like it had been for so long.

"Henry? Can you see me?" His hands clenched the bedsheets, mouth agape while waiting desperately for a response.

For a moment there was nothing, though a barely audible moan began to fill his ears, coming from Henry's throat. It continued, increasingly becoming less raspy with each tick the clock.

Henry's mouth began to move, his tongue and lips slowly forming the right shapes to turn the grumble into words.

"Aah - er." He mumbled, not quite moving enough to make the right sounds. "Jahh - er." He tried again, this time slightly better than the last, though his message was clear.

"Henry?! Oh my God!" Jasper moved his face inches away from Henry's, grinning furiously. "This is actually happening. Holy shit. Oh my God." Tears began to stream down his face.

"W-what? Why are you... Crying?" Each syllable slurred together while something sort of resembling a concerned expression began to form, though his muscles refused to let it work properly.

Jasper pulled him into a hug, pressing Henry's face against his chest while cradling his head.

"...I feel so weird." The blonde twitched his hands, attempting to pull them around Jasper's back, though they refused. He tried once again, shooting a glare at his stubborn hands yet once again he was unsuccessful. Henry groaned. "...Why can't I... move properly...?"

"It's okay, just rest." The man tightened his grip but another groan from Henry sent him pulling in a split second. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Are you okay!?""

Yet another groan left Henry's lips, more violent than the last. "It hurts so bad."

"I know. It's okay, shhh." Jasper cooed while gently squeezing his friends hand. "I'll get Charlotte."

He stormed through the hallways, almost tripping over his own feet as he lost control of his own body, only the overwhelming sense of desperation keeping him moving forward.

As soon as Charlotte was in sight he practically leapt onto her, sending her flying halfway across the room. Both hands tightly grasped her shoulders as he shook her.

"Henry's talking Henrystalkinghegurtshehurts-" He vomited out the indistinguishable blur of words.

Charlotte touched his arms gently. "Okay, slow down. What's wrong?" She shot a concerned look at Jasper who's knees were seconds away from giving in.

He breathed heavily, trying to slow down by racing mind, before he managed to croak the words out. "Henry's awake and talking." He panted, clutching tighter and tighter onto the woman's shoulders. "He's hurting, Charlotte. He's hurting, he told me."

Charlotte's eyes widened for a brief second before closing while she nodded. "Okay, go tell the others. I'll increase his morphine."

Jasper did as he was told, banging violently on Schwoz's door and half dragging Ray out of bed in the process.

The three ended up back in Henry's room, watching inventively as Charlotte fiddled with some machine before pulling away and exhaling deeply.

"It's done." She cracked her knuckles, making Jasper wince at the clicks. "He should be in less painful now."

"Good." Jasper shook off the cringe from the knuckles and smiled weakly, recovering from the stress that had just attacked him.

"So he really spoke?" Their bosses sat sprawled out onto the floor, rubbing his head from where it had been injured by Jasper's mad dash. "Did he say anything?"

"He said my name, asked me why I was crying, and said that he hurt." Jasper ran his fingers through his hair. "It was kinda slurred so it was hard to tell what he was saying."

Ray nodded and stood up, stretching out his legs. "I can't believe I missed it." He cursed under his breath.

Schwoz waved his hand dismissively. "Ah he will do it again. Do not be sad."

"He's right, Ray." Charlotte yawned "I was so scared it was going to go wrong. I literally have a notebook full of arguments for sanctity of life and quality of life from now much I worried about it." She wrapped her finger around a loose thread on her pyjamas, twisting it around and around until the circulation began to cut off. "I thought even if we did bring him back he'd be paralysed, hating everyone." With a sudden tug, she broke the thread and exhaled deeply. "But now he's talking."

Jasper hummed in agreement and spread his arms, inviting the others into a hug.

Once they finally pulled away, Charlotte rubbed her eyes and mumbled that "It's tree in the morning, I'm going to bed." And with that, the rest of them followed.

The younger man stayed, however, instead slowly pacing towards Henry and reaching for his hand.

Only a year ago Jasper was broken. He couldn't sleep, couldn't eat... There had been weeks where all he had done was drink everything away. There had been weeks where Jasper couldn't even leave his bed.

There had been weeks where Jasper had been so close to giving up.

Now he was gripping onto the hand of the person most important to him after hearing his voice only minutes ago.

And Jasper could almost feel a gentle grip back.

xxx

A faint vibration resounded throughout Jasper's pocket as his phone burst to life, it's screen shining brightly through the darkness.

In the morning Jasper would find a single notification; A single text message waiting for its contents to be discovered.

"Isiah:66:16."

With a raised eyebrow, Jasper pressed delete.

 **Henry's finally awake!! I know this healing process is inaccurate and too fast but I feel bad for making you all wait on the Hensper shit.**

 **Sean Ryan Fox liked 2 of my drawings on Instagram and one of them was Hensper so Hensper is p much canon now and no one can tell me otherwise btw.**

 **Also I really recomend joining the Hensper discord (haeF2nR) if you're a fan of Hensper because honestly the people in it are so nice and it's such a supportive place that has helped a lot with motivation for writing this fic**!

 **Finally, p** **lease follow my Instagram and Tumblr _Bigpoppajasper!_**


	10. Restart

Ever since the first time Henry spoke he'd been speaking more and more. Every day he seemed to get a little stronger, his muscles improving more and more while more and more words left his mouth. It wasn't perfect by far. Other than his mouth muscles, he was pretty weak despite all the physio, and only a few sentences wore him out considerably.

His brain was surprisingly less damaged than they expected too. While his mind was a bit more frazzled than before this whole incident and while he did have a lot less control over his muscles, he seemed to have a pretty good grip on everything apart from occasional disorientation.

Most importantly, even with these changes he was still Henry. But he'd be lying if he said it was exactly like before. Something was off, different.

A magazine was spread open in Jasper's hands but he wasn't really reading it.

"What you thinking 'bout, Jasper?" Henry grinned playfully, staring at the dazed Jasper who was sat next to his bed.

They still hadn't really talked about his whole death thing. I mean, they obviously had, but not really. Not to the extent they should have, anyway.

Not one word had been spoken about how they coped in that horrible time where Henry was truly dead. Nothing about Jasper's insomnia, Charlotte's fury, and how Schwoz spent every hour of his wake pouring his heart into fixing the situation in any way he could. They hadn't talked about Ray's sex addiction or the way he pushed the bloody sword over and over and over again through Angel's dead body. They hadn't talked about the roller coaster of emotions they faced throughout the year that they'd spent trying desperately to bring him back. They hadn't talked about the decaying, disgusting body that left Charlotte, Schwoz and Ray pale as a ghost and shivering more than Jasper knew was physically possible. They hadn't talked about the countless surgeries and the patchwork quilt body that made Jasper want to run.

They hadn't talked about Jasper's heartbreak.

They hadn't talked about his parents dazed looks.

They hadn't talked about Piper, the ferocious Piper, dropping out of high school and becoming as timid as a mouse.

And it hung over them, creating a rift between the two.

Henry interrupted the silence. "Dude, you okay?"

Jasper continued to stare at the magazine, the colours bleeding together from his cloudy eyes.

"Jasper!"

He snapped out of it. "What?"

"You okay there, you seemed spaced out?" Henry rolled onto his side, casting a concerned glance to the other man.

"I'm okay, just thinking." Jasper swalloed the heat forming behind his eyes and stood up, letting the magazine fall to the chair as he stretched his legs.

"Yeah?" Henry rolled back onto his back, following Jasper's pacing with his eyes. "What about?"

Jasper shuffled on the floor, pausing for a moment. "Just stuff, you know?"

Henry gave him a long stare, trying to mentally probe Jasper's thoughts out of him, before softly sighing and opening his mouth. "Dude you know you can tell me stuff right? We haven't really talked much since... You know, all of this."

"Yeah I know." Jasper smiled, letting out a sigh.

Henry's eyes lingered on him, watching as Jasper looked down at the floor and mentally scolded himself. He knew this was wrong and that he needed to talk to Henry, though he really didn't want to relive everything once again.

But then this was his Henry, alive and well. And if Jasper had learnt anything from this it was that life was insanely precious and that any second this rebel towards nature could fail so he had to seize every oppertunity to tell Henry the truth.

Because of this, he flicked back and forth between the floor and Henry's brown eyes with those goddamn golden specks in, before coming to a decision and sighing.

"...Can we talk tonight?"

"Yeah sure thing, Jasper." Henry's carefree grin melted away Jasper's tension.

Jasper stretched his arms out above his head, sighing slightly at the pop they made. "I guess we should do your physio. You alright with that?"

"I don't really have a choice, do I?." Henry slowly pushed himself up from the mattress, letting out a slight grunt as he rose. The carefree grin remained, rendering this nothing more than a throwaway comment- a casual complaint of something that didn't really bother him at all. But for just a passing second his brows furrowed and his voice wavered. They really needed to talk.

Jasper instinctively hovered his arms behind his back, prepared to catch him if he failed the great task of sitting up. As soon as Henry was fully up, he retreated and fiddled with the bottom of his sweatshirt.

"So mou-"

"Yeah, yeah. Mouth things first. I don't see why I have to do this so much." Henry rolled his eyes.

"You have to!"

"Nah, my speech is perfect."

Jasper laughed. "It's really not. It's do difficult to make out what you're saying sometimes."

"Nope."

"Just do it!"

"Fine." Henry playfully hit (or tried to hit) Jasper before locking those goddamn beautiful eyes with Jasper's.

Jasper felt his knees weaken.

Henry sat there, saying random sounds over and over again with exaggerated mouth movement, before moving to his arms. He lifted them above his head, repeatedly stretching them and moving them about. Initially, he had only a little trouble, his form relatively steady. But after only a few more control began to slip from him.

"I hate having to do this." It was clearly only intended to be an offhand comment but Henry's voice cracked ever so slightly, exposing something below.

Jasper reached over and patted Henry's shoulder.

"I would too, Hen."

"It's just like... Frustrating, you know?" Henry moved onto his legs, stretching them out and bending the knees repeatedly. "I used to be pretty strong. I was a superhero and now I can't even move my hands properly?" He stopped stretching and let his knees hit the mattress with a plop.

Jasper just nodded, casting the blonde a sympathetic look.

"I just feel a bit trapped, I guess." Henry's hands went to fiddle with his shirt but his fingers wouldn't cooperate.

Once again Jasper just nodded, not entirely sure what to say.

The silence stretched on, the only noise being the gentle hum of the fan in the corner of the room.

"Hey, Jasper?" Henry mumbled, breaking the silence.

"Yeah?"

"...What was it like when I was dead?"

Jasper ran his hands through his hair and let himself fall back into the chair, not caring that he was squashing the magazine. He wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to talk about this if he wasn't sitting. "Horrible. Really, really horrible."

"But how? Did you guys miss me?"

Jasper's mouth widened momentarily, dumbfounded by the stupid question. "Henry, of course we missed you!" He sat up a bit straighter. "It messed us all up so bad! I barely slept for like 6 months, Ray had a full blown addiction, Schwoz buried himself in his work, and Charlotte just spent all day every day trying to find out who killed you." His eyes clouded over.

"... It was really that bad?"

"If anything it was worse." Jasper grabbed Henry's hand and squeezed it tightly. "I missed you so bad Henry, we all did."

Henry squeezed back as best as he could.

For a while they just stayed like that, clinging onto each other, then Henry whispered, disturbing the silence "Jasper?"

"Yeah, Hen?"

"What happened to my parents and Piper?"

"They're um..." Jasper's eyes trailed to the floor, then to Henry's stern gaze, then back again. He took a deep breath. "Charlotte and Ray didn't want to tell them before we knew you were going to be okay." Jasper gave Henry's hand another squeeze. "If you ask Ray he might call them up."

Henry remained still for a moment, eyes fogging up ever so slightly. Then he nodded and sighed.

So they did just that. Or well, Jasper did on Henry's behalf. Henry slithered back under the covers, drained and leaving Jasper to face Ray.

"Come on, Ray. It's not fair, he deserves to see them!"

"He's not well enough yet!" Ray waved his arms around as he spoke. "He can't go meet them!"

"I hate to say it but... I agree with Ray" Charlotte called from the control panel. "Henry can barely talk yet. Is it really safe for him to spend a full day out of the man cave with them?"

"But can't you just bring them over here!?"

"What part of the man cave being secret do you not understand!?" Ray's arm waves increased in their range.

"Ray, they know about Henry being Kid Danger. I don't think it matters much if they also know where the base is." Jasper ran his fingers through his hair. "And you can blindfold them! You've had loads of random girls down here by blindfolding them when you brought them in! Why is that better than having very trustworthy people brought in like that!?"

"Okay, he has a point." Charlotte called again, not looking up from the control panel.

Ray paused for a second, temporarily defeated, before pulling at his hair. "Look, Jasper. Henry is alive and making progress but... There's still a high risk of... You know? It's just not safe." He bit his lip. "And it's just... It would be worse for them if they knew this failed."

Jasper's mouth fell agape. He was still for a second, and then he snapped. "You're kidding me." Blood rushed through Jasper's veins. "You're kidding me." He repeated, the disbelief creeping more and more into his voice. "If Henry is going to die at any goddamn second then isn't it better for him to see if family when he has the chance!? What the fuck is wrong with you, Ray!?"

Charlotte and Ray edged back slightly, thrown off by the uncharacteristic outburst. Ray looked to the floor.

"No, seriously Ray. I know you're worried about security and I know you think you're doing the right thing for some fucking reason, but this isn't okay and you're being stupid, Ray. Just let him see his family!" Jasper spat each word.

Silence filled the room.

"Just let him." The tension in Jasper fizzed out, leaving him sniffling and pawing at his face with his sleeve.

Ray solemnly nodded, which was as close to an apology as you'd get with Ray. "... I'll call them now." He mumbled, disappearing through the gear door as he pulled out his phone.

Charlotte turned her head to look at Jasper, but he was already gone.

5 minutes passed before a soft knock hit Jasper's bedroom door.

"They're coming over now." A voice mumbled from behind the barrier.

Jasper slowly made his way over, shuffling his feet. "Right now?" He avoided Ray's eyes.

The older man nodded and an awkward tension rose around them, neither saying anything.

Then ray caught Jasper's eye and nodded again, slower this time with regret on his face. Jasper paused, clearly contemplating, before sighing and nodding back. The weight eased slightly.

"I'll tell him now." Jasper gave a slight smile. "... Thank you."

Ray nodded again and followed Jasper to Henry's room, staying a few steps behind him before Jasper came to a halt, only starting again when Ray was beside him.

XXX

Jasper genuinely doesn't think he's seen Henry as happy as he is right now in his entire life.

His parents and Piper had ran into the room and were now clinging to him, sobbing and whispering over and over again that it was really him. Piper's phone lay discarded on the floor, an untended to crack running through it's screen from the moment Piper stepped into the room. An orange glow from the lamp coated the moment, casting a picture perfect tone.

Jasper admired it for a minute, warmth bubbling inside his chest, before following Charlotte and Ray and stepping out of the room.

He found himself constantly walking through the hallway, catching snippets of the events inside. Sometimes it was shouts of "No way, you're cheating!" and "In your face!", the family reuniting through their shared competitive streak. Other times it was almost completely silent with faint sobs and whispers of I love you being the only signs the room contained life.

Jasper manages to catch Piper before they leave early in the morning, grabbing her wrist and apologising for not telling her about Henry. She rolls her eyes and says she gets it, before insulting him and giving Henry one last hug.

Ray shoots him a knowing look when Jasper insists on taking over Ray's shift of watching Henry. "Night, kid." He pat's Henry on the back and leaves, leaving Henry and Jasper alone.

Henry grins sleepily and pats the bed. Jasper plops onto the space and stretches out. "So how was it?" Jasper asked, knowing full well what the answer would be.

"Weird but... really really good." The blonde yawned and sunk into the bed so his head rested on the pillow instead of the headboard. "I've never really talked to them like that before."

"What do you mean?"

"That emotionally I guess. You know how I am with them normally, it's really not like that."

"Well you were dead, Hen." Jasper laughed gently.

"Yeah that's the thing. For me it doesn't feel that long since I saw them but for them... I'm surprised they weren't more emotional."

"Piper broke her phone. Piper."

"True."

The pair laughed softly and Jasper slid under the covers to shuffle next to Henry.

"...What was it like?" Jasper mumbled into the pillow.

"What?" Henry looked back quizzically.

"Dying I guess. Being dead. Did anything cool happen?"

Henry stared for a second, clearly taken aback. "If anything cool did happen I don't remember it." Another yawn escaped his lips. "It just feels like I went to sleep but like... More? Like there was some kind of switch that went off when I was asleep."

Jasper nodded, before opening his mouth and closing it again.

"Go on." Henry tried to nudge Jasper.

"...What was dying like?"

"...I just remember pain. From the poison. And Ray loosing his shit and hugging me. Then I blacked out I guess. It's like how you don't remember anything around falling asleep."

Jasper nods again and trails his hand over to Henrys. He interlocks their fingers and squeezes gently.

Henry smiles. "I'm fine, dude. Seriously. I'f anything you're probably more mentally messed up about it."

Jasper just squeezed tighter. They led like that for a while, taking in the warmth of each others palms.

"Do you remember the photo album I have?"

Henry hummed. "Yeah I know the one. With all the stickers and stuff."

"Yeah that one. I used to look at that a lot.

Henry tried to massage his thumb into Jasper's hand but it ended up as more of an occasional jitter in slow motion. Jasper sighed into the touch anyway.

"Can we have a look at it? There are some really embarrassing pictures of you in it that I'm literally dying to see again." The blonde tried to nudge Jasper again, who this time playfully nudged back.

Jasper grabs the book and the pair flick through for hours, absorbing each moment captured forever on the paper. They stop on a picture of them as young kids, probably around 11 They're tucked into bed together the same way they are now. Even after abuse and lies and superheros and college and death and disability, they're still together. Jasper rolls over onto his side and tucks his head onto Henry's shoulder, draping an arm over his chest and savouring the precious heartbeat. Henry leans into the touch, spreading his warmth to the other boy. And within minutes they're asleep, the photo book discarded to Henry's side.

Hours later Jasper's phone vibrates slightly, announcing to the world a one word text. "Stop."


End file.
